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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ; 



ANGLING 



IN THE 



Lakes of Northern Illinois 

HOW AND WHERE TO FISH THEM. 



INTERSPERSED WITH NUMEROUS ANECDOTES. 



Profusely Illustrated by Descriptive Charts of the Various 

Waters of the Fox River Lakes, Showing the 

Locationsof the Fishing Grounds, 

and the Best Method of 

Fishing Them. 



By CHAS. F. JOHNSON. 



-•',v.--- 



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CHICAGO: 

THE AMERICAN FIELD PUBLISHING CO. ^*^ ^UX 
1896. -^ I 



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Copyright, i8g6, 

BY 

THE AMERICAN FIELD PUBLISHING CO. 

CHICAGO 



The Blakely Printing Co., Chicago. 



CSONl'^N'tS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Sand Lake— Slougli Laie— The Irishman and the 

Cow ^ 

CHAPTER n. 

Fourth or Miltimore Lake— My First Catfish 15 

CHAPTER HI. 

Crooked Lake— O'Leai-y's Goose 27 

CHAPTER IV. 
Cedar Lake— Tubby's Second Riiu— A Patriotic Lob- 
ster • • • • 37 

CHAPTER V. 

Deep Lake— Sun Lake— Tommy and the Goat 45 

CHAPTEiR VI. 
Hastings Lake— My Poetical Fishing Friend- 
Angling for an Otter J'-> 

CHAPTER VII. 

Huntley's Lake— Swallowing a Fishhook 55 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Lake Marie and Bluff Lake— Shell Fish and Clam 

Chowder— The Colonel's Photograph 63 

CHAPTER IX. 
First or Gage's Lake— An Embarrassing Position— 

The Incident of an Iron Pot 71 

CHAPTER X. 
Chittenden and Druce Lakes— Sandy McGree's Eel 

Pie 77 

CHAPTER XL 
Long Lake— A Lesson in Bait-Casting— Toby Snuf- 
fles and the Little School Marm— Up-to-date Bar- 

bering ^1 

CHAPTER XII. 
Round Lake— A Queer Advertisement and a 

Troublesome Canine 87 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Taylor's Lake— A Legend of Limburger Cheese 93 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Gray's Lake— My First and Last Experience in 

Kanching 99 

CHAPTER XV. 
Cliaunel Lalie — Lake Catherine— Loon Lake— Locat- 
ing Strange Waters— How and When to Strike a 

Fish 10.5 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Fox Lilke — Petite Lake— Observations on Skitter- 
ing and Bait-Casting Ill 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Suiitli Wright, the well-known Sand Lake gnide 

and expert angler 7 

Sand Lake and Slough Lake 11 

Fourth or Miltimo-re Lake 17 

"I was so paralyzed at the sight of my capture as 

to immediately drop everything" 21 

"It's a dogfish— whv, you can't eat that thing". ... 23 

Crooked Lake 26 

"That dhoul of a bird was harder than rock itself" 29 

"And erected a mound to his memo.ry" 33 

"Eagerly watching Iiis rod with wrapt attention".. 39 

Cedar Lake 41 

"Ye gods! what an avalajiche of lobsterian matter 

descended in our midst" 43 

Deep Lake and Sun Lake 44 

"And commenced a most malignant assault upon 

Tommy" 47 

"I managed to crawl and cling to the slope clear 

of the water" 48 

Hastings I^ake 51 

"I'm a dead man; I've swallowed that fishhook". . 57 

Huntley's Lake 59 

"And the Colonel took the picture" 62 

Lake INIarie and Bluff Lake 65 

First or Gage's Lake 73 

Chittenden and Druce Lakes 76 

Long Lake 83 

Round Lake 86 

Taylor's Lake 92 

Gray's Lake 101 

Channel Lake and Lake Catherine 107 

Loon Lake 109 

Fox Lake 113 

I'etite Lake 115 



CHAPTER I. 

SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. THE IRISHMAN AND 
THE COW. 

How delightful are the thoughts and reminiscences 
suggested to the man who fishes by that familiar 
phrase — "The Lalie Region." 

For seven long months in the year we toil within a 
limited horizon of briclis, mortar and smoke, encoun- 
tering the vexatious worries and hundred and one 
anxieties incidental to and inseparable from the daily 
task of dollar hunting, rising early, retiring late, 
struggling against the vicissitudes of a climate which 
if appropriated by Hades could render that undesirable 
abode more undesirable still; in fact, vegetating to all 
Intents and purposes, mechanically following a certain 
routine of existence, enduring the "Winter of our dis- 
content" with patience and resignation, solely because 
we are sure of our reward later, and that for five 
blessed months, viz., June, July, August, September 
and October, the enchanting fairyland of fishdom can 
once again be traversed and explored in those beauti- 
ful spots familiar to us — "The Lake Region." 

My aim in the following series of articles is to de- 
scribe the numerous lake resorts of Northern Illinois 
which can be reached on the Wisconsin Cen- 
tral Railway by a short journey of two 
to three hours' duration, and a full day's 
sport enjoyed during that period of time embraced 
by leaving the city on the Saturday noon train at 1:25 
and arriving in Chicago on the Sunday evening fol- 
lowing. I know that, although a great number of an- 
glers are already familiar with the fishing grounds of 
the Fox Lake Region, there are still many would-be 

(5) 



fi SAND LAKIO AND SLOUGH LAKE. 

fishcriuou Iguorant of the layout of this delightful local- 
ity. It is to these individuals I principally address 
myself, although not Avitliout a lurking hope that tlio 
old habitues of the places named will find something 
of interest also. 

The descriptive diarts showing tlie different forma- 
tions of tlie lalce bottoms and marginal surroundings, 
together with the varied linny prey tliey contain, have 
been compiled from personal experiences during a se- 
ries of fishing trips extendiug over many past years, 
lu addition to this, the description of the different 
watery territory and tlie fishes to be found therein, 
to nuiive assurances doubly sure, have been submitted 
to the consideration and opinion of tliose local angling 
celebrities living in tlie immediate vicinity, men thor- 
ouglily acquainted willi every poclvct, sandbar, and 
deep liole; individuals Avho in many cases have fished 
the waters from childhood, and whose reliability in 
these matters is above question. 

It is, of course, Impossible to show in the accompany- 
ing charts the commencement and ends of the boiind- 
ary lines, witliiu which the several fisliiiig grounds 
lie, with the absolute exactitude of a professional sur- 
vey on dry land, but tlie landmarlcs and other signs 
sliowii in the charts, together witli the notes accom- 
panying them, I believe are sulticiently accurate and 
self-explanatory to enable even a stranger by the exer- 
cise of a little care and patience to find any of the 
spots designated. 

To those anglers who indulge in still fisliing, 1 would 
advise a sliglit cliange of "ground" at short intervals 
until results prove them to be anchored in the best 
portion of wliatever fishing water tliey may have 
selected. This is particularly applicable to wall-eyed 
pilvC fishing; these fishes, lying in tlie very deepest 
parts of the water, malce it impossible to locate their 
"holding ground" from any surface signs, as in the 
case of pickerel and bass "grounds." 

I have noticed there are three classes of fishermen 



SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 7 

visiting the lakes and generally maliing big catches. 
First is the modern bait-caster, his tools a short, light 
bait-casting rod, quadruple multiplying reel, and un- 
dressed silli casting line, which, when wielded by the 
expert, enable him to place his frog or minnow in a 
light, natural manner upon the water, sufficiently far 




SMITH WRIGHT, THE WELL-KNOWN SAND LAKE GUIDE AND 
EXPERT ANGLER 

away to comi^letely conceal from his keen visioned 
quarry the identity of himself and tackle. This method 
is the very embodiment of scientific angling, and is 
undoubtedly the most enjoyable and successful mode 
of catching fish with hook and line ever introduced. 



8 SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 

The man Avho uses a combination of this description 
is invariably an enthusiastic and devoted fisherman, 
for there is no method of angling which can so quickly 
impart the many secrets of fish and fish lore as does the 
practice of bait-casting. It commands constant and 
closest atlention to the matter at issue, compelling an 
undivided observation, which quickly gives that in- 
tuitive perception of "desirable environments" and 
"favorable signs," the knowledge of whicli is absolutely 
essential to successful angliug. 

The second class of lucky fishermen are those old- 
time habitues of the lakes, whose outfits and methods 
of using them are of the most crude and simple de- 
scription, men to whom the modern methods of an- 
gliug and the innumerable adjuncts to the craft are 
as a sealed book. Such individuals survey the costly 
rods and expensive outfits of tlie up-to-date bait-caster 
with an air of kindly irony and good-natured forbear- 
ance, secretly Avondering how the deuce a fellow can 
be so foolish as to invest fifty or sixty dollars in fishing 
tackle, when according to their old-fashioned firm 
conviction a twenty-cent bamboo pole, cotton line, and 
hook baited with a minnow or frog's leg will enable 
them to unceremoniously "yank out" fish "ad libitum." 
Dear, genial old disciples of Izaak: fit representatives 
of ye ancient angler. 

These, equipped Avith a long, stiff bamboo pole, sliort, 
thiclv line, and spoon or baited hook, will engage the 
services of some old experienced boatman, who will 
stealthily row the boat from which they fish just out- 
side some rush or sedge beds, enabling their patrons to 
display their baits to the fishes lurking within the 
cover without being seen. Such anglers frequently 
have remarkable success, owing to the fact that the 
boatman who rows them is usually some experienced 
old-timer who, appreciating the timorous disposition 
of the fishes and knowing every likely fishing spot, 
is able with a quiet, light movement of the sculls to 
keep the boat sufficiently far away to insure conceal- 



SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 9 

luout of both boat and occupants, and yet allow tlie 
fisherniau to place his bait within striking distance 
of the fish. 

In this case the angler's success is due entirely to 
the skill and forethought of the man Avho rows in know- 
ing where the fishes are and approaching f hem without 
the slightest splash or disturbance, allowing the mer- 
est angling novice who will sit perfectly still and draw 
a bait through the water at rod's longtli to frequently 
take a catch of fish which will make the expert bait- 
caster's mouth water with euA-'y; and I will venture 
to say that every man who fishes in this manner and 
makes a big catch gives to himself the sole credit 
thereof, and in his harmless vanity imagines himself 
to be a wonderfully clever fisherman, little thinking 
what an important part the other fellow who rowed 
the boat played in their capture. 

"J'he third successful style of fishing is trolling from 
a boat, rowing slowly along the deeper stretches with 
a trolling spoon following about seventy or eighty feet 
behind the boat; and the man who trolls is certainly 
not to be accused of laziness, for if there is any mode 
of catching fish with rod and line which keeps a man 
continually on the move it is that in which the trolling 
spoon is used. 

The group of lakes to which I will first call attention 
are Sand Lake, Crooked Lake, Fourth or Miltimore 
Lake, Slough Lake and Hastings Lake, in Lake County, 
111. These are reached from the Lake Villa depot on 
the Wisconsin Central, a distance of fifty miles from 
Chicago, and are all located within easy distance of 
Smith Wright's house, the Sand Lake Hotel, which 
lies about two miles southeast of the depot. Sand 
Lake faces tlie house on the north, its nearest shore 
within a hundred yards of the front door. Slough 
Lake is about a quarter of a mile southwest. Crooked 
Lake a mile nortliwest, Fourth or Miltimore Lake half 
a mile south, and Hastings Lake about three-quarters 
of a mile away north. The reason I have grouped these 



10 SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 

lakes together is, they can all be fished with but little 
traveling, by maliing Smith Wright's house one's head- 
quarters. 

For much of tlie iuformatiou regarding the fishing 
spots on these lalves I am indebted to the kindness 
and courtesy of Mr. Smith Wright, than whom a more 
genial fishing companion, right-down good fellow and 
painstaking host never existed, and any angler visiting 
these lakes who has the good fortune to make a fishing 
trip with Smith Wright may mark it as a red-letter 
day, for he'll surely catch fish, have a royal good time, 
and obtain much valuable information regarding the 
sport. 

Smith Wright is one of the oldest and most success- 
ful bait-casters on the lalves. Fifty years ago his 
father, George Wright, Avho died four years ago, pur- 
chased from the government tlie hundred and sixty 
acres which make part of the present holding, fronting 
on Sand Lake. During the first twenty years he 
farmed, but the steadily increasing influx of sports- 
men from growing Chicago, who made the house their 
headquartei's when fishing the adjoining lakes, caused 
the old gentleman to view his farming operations as 
of secondary importance. He enlarged the house, 
named it Sand Lake Hotel, and catered to the wants 
of his city visitors. Within a few years of his death 
he turned the house and its large patronage over to 
his son, Smith, who with his estimable wife, the pres- 
ent hostess, now runs the place. The terms are one 
dollar a day, including boats, and live bait of every 
description can always be had. 

Sand Lake contains as good bass and pickerel grounds 
as any piece of water in the lake region, and it is as- 
serted by many old settlers that the lake affords nearly 
as good fishing as it did forty years ago. I am inclined 
to believe this, for I think it is impossible to ever fish 
out any body of water which contains so many weed 
beds as do most of the lakes in this region. Sand Lake 
has always been known as an uncertain fishing water, 



SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 



11 



unlike Fourth Lake, which even under the most un- 
favorable auspices of wind and weather will yield some 
return to the persevering and patient fisherman. But 
in Sand Lake it's "all or none." For days together the 
fishes will remain stolidly indifferent to the most seduc- 
tive baits and careful fishing, but when they do come 

T.po^(^^(E^^.Y} 

SCHOOl. HOUSE 




Slough Lake Sand Lake 

on feed they go for the bait with an abandon that 
allows the fisherman to make a big catch in a very 
short time. 

The lake is fed by springs and the fishes in it, par- 
ticularly the pickerel, are the gamiest and finest eat- 
ing that ever sprung a rod or graced the table. It is 



12 SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKK. 

a notable fact that pickerel under five pounds' weight 
are seldom caught in Sand Ijako. 

The best pickerel "ground"' is that marked on the 
chart south of the deep Avater sixty-live feet in depth. 
By anchoring on the weed bed skirting it on tiie south 
end, and casting out as far as possible into the deep 
water beyond and allowing the bait to sink well be- 
fore drawing slowly in, is the best method of fishing 
this spot. A golden rule and one which often marks 
the distinguishing line between success and failure is: 
"Don't reel in too quickly." Stop reeling every now and 
then, giving by a movement of tlie rod's point those 
little hositatory jerks and seductive movements to the 
bait Avhich are so enticing to the lish. 

The shallow water in. the southeast, in shore, affords 
excellent fiy-flshiug for bass on a still evening, after a 
hot day. It is hard bottomed, with a fringe of weeds 
extending to within fifty yards of tlie shore line, and 
is capital wading ground. 

The roclvy bottomed ground, in shore, opposite the 
scliool house, is excellent water for tlie fly, while far- 
ther out and in the deeper water, over toward the 
saud, live bait can be used to advantage. For earlj^ 
morning and midday fishing the lily pads on the west 
end of the lake are the best spots. 

Although tlitj bait-caster may turn up his nose in 
disdain at the mere mention of perch fishing, there are 
still many who enjoy a catch of these toothsome and 
plucky little fellows. The "ground" marked on the 
soutliwestern point of the sandbar will be found to 
yield the man who fishes for perch all the fun he could 
reasonably wish; for, unlike the bass and pickerel in 
this lake, perch will be found always hungry and ready 
to grab the baited hook dropped for their notice. 

Just outside the little rush bed east of T. Donnelly's 
house is a sure find for large bass at almost any time, 
but the limited extent of this ground forbids any great 
catch. 

Slough Lake affords good fishing all around in shore. 



SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 13 

Both pickerel and bass are fairly plentiful. This lake 
is something like Sand Lake in regard to the feeding 
habits of the fislios. But large catches are often made. 
It is a good plan after making the round of the lake 
(which is small) and finding no sport, to leave it and 
try some other lake. 

There is a very large pickerel in tliis lake still, for 
which the late Mr. George Wright offered any angler 
who could capture it fifty dollars. Although it has fre- 
quently been seen, no angler ever has been able to 
induce it to take a bait. 

Two years ago an Irisliman, fresh from tlie old sod, 
spending a week's holiday at Wright's liouse, heard 
of this big fellow and declared his intention of attempt- 
ing to catch him. The boys, before he started, in pure 
waggery, narrated such wonderful yarns as to the 
length, weight and breadth of this fish that the Irish- 
man was pretty well prepared to see almost any kind 
of water monstrosity. 

He set out at five o'clock in the evening, equipped 
with a clothes prop, ten yards of chalk line treble 
braided, two chub minnows for bait weighing re- 
spectively two and three povmds each, and an old 
shark hook that had been kicking about in Wright's 
odds and ends box for many years. He returned at 
5:30 minus his hat, coat and tackle, rushed into the 
house and incoherently besought Mrs. Wright: 

'"For the love of the saints give me a stimulant, 
quick!" 

It took nearly all the contents of Wright's medicine 
chest to fix him up sufi^iciently to stand, and then all 
lie could do was to yell at the top of his voice: 

"I've seen it! I've seen it! I've seen it!" 

After he had imparted this information for about ten 
minutes, without varying it, Wright got impatient and 
shaking him roughly, asked him: 

"What the dickens have you seen, anyhow V" 

"I've seen either the big pickerel or the devil," he at 
last managed to blurt out, during a lucid interval, and 



14 SAND LAKE AND SLOUGH LAKE. 

"for Hivou's sake take me homo Immediately, for 1 
feel that a place where siieh ji:oinji;,s on happen is no 
place for nie." Sinitli harnessed up tlie ri.;? and lauded 
liini down to llie depot in time to catch tlie train which 
left an liour later. 

The next morning one of the boys who went to 
Slouch Lake fouml an old dead cow on its back, stuck 
fast in the mud, dose by the Irishman's boat, with its 
legs sticking above the water about a foot. 

'J'he death aj;-onies of an old cow, stuck fast in the 
mud in two feet of water, as seen in tlie dim twilight 
by a superstitious Irishman, are apt to produce such 
efl'ects tliat Smith AVright ought to have congratulated 
himself he didn't have a raving lunatic on his hands 
Instead of a badly frightened Irishman. 



CHAPTER II. 

FOURTH OR MILTIMORR LAKE. MY FIRST CATFISH. 

Fourth or Miltimore Lake, located half a mile south 
of Sand Lake Hotel, is undoubtedly the best fishing 
lake of any in the Fox Lake region. It is practically two 
lakes divided by a spit of land with a narrow channel 
joining tlieni. During a dry spell this channel dries up 
and the upper and lower portions of Fourth Lalie really 
become two separate pieces of water without any 
connecting waterway. 

Fourth Lake, from its location and diversified sur- 
roundings, offers finer fishing water for the angler 
and better facilities for success during those un- 
favorable times when fish are off feed than can be 
found in any other sheet of water with which I am 
acquainted. It is rare, indeed, for the man who fishes 
Fourth Lake during those months comprised in the 
ordinary fishing season to have an entirely blank day; 
patient research invariably will reveal some pocket 
or corner at one end or another of the lake which will 
yield a few bass or pickerel. 

The surroundings of Fourth Lake are such as to 
permit of a lee shore, no matter in which direction the 
wind may blow. At the lower end of the lake a 
chilly wind may cool the water and roughen its sur- 
face with heavy waves, sending the fish into the 
deeper portions far away from the angler's reach, 
yet the water at the upper or north end will be found 
to have experienced no cliange of temperature, owing 
to the protecting influence of the wooded ground sur- 
rounding it. In fact, it may be generally said of Fourth 
Lake that if the fish are not feeding in one portion 
they are pretty sure to do so in another. 

The two finest pickerel grounds in the lake are those 

2 (15) 



16 FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 

marked A and B on the chart. In the former the 
fishing is at its best late in the season, about October 
and November, at which time a perch tail, used near 
tlie surface, is the most killing bait. The appearance 
of this piece of water is indicative of its excellence. 
From four to ten feet in depth; skirted on its north 
side by an extensive rush bed, thence gradually deep- 
ening as it opens out into the lake; the bottom studded 
with a rich growth of pickerel and bass weeds, suffi- 
ciently thick to afford concealment to the fishes with- 
out seriously impeding the angler in casting his bait 
and landing the fish when hooked. 

The bay marked Bon the chart is an excellent pickerel 
ground at all times and I believe, from my own ex- 
perience, contains more and larger pickerel than any 
other spot in the lakes. There are several pickerel 
frequenting this bay whose weight would be a surprise 
to the angler who might be so fortunate as to catch 
one of them. 

The bass ground marked C, just west of the boat 
house, is very fine; the best bass fishing is just within 
the outer edge of the I'ushes. There are several pock- 
ets, well inside the rushes along the whole of this por- 
tion of the north shore, which are worth particular at- 
tention on the part of the angler. 

Recollect, in boat fishing, to use the sculls as little 
as possiible; drift all you can. The proper and most 
successful way to fish a piece of water is to row to the 
windward, keeping well out and away from the water 
you intend to fish, and then drift over it, taking care to 
sit still and avoid rocking the boat, for you cannot be 
too cautious and careful when fishing for large bass. 

The best spots at which to fly-fish for bass are those 
marked D, just outside the rushes. Lake fly-fishing for 
bass is not a pronounced success. The best fly-fishing 
for basis is to be had on the riflles of streams with rapid 
currents; but there are times when even lake fishing for 
bass witli the artificial fly will insure a big catch. 
Seven years ago I had such a catch in Sand Lake, on 



FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 



17 



I 

I 

I 

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18 FOURTH OR MILTIMORB LAKE. 

that portion of the water marked as suitable for fly- 
fishing, and as there may be some enthusiastic votaries 
of the fly-rod among the readers of the American Field, 
I will here give a few hints i-elative to fishing for bass 
with the fly. They are clipped from a small pamphlet 
I prepared in 1893, on behalf of the Natchaug Silk Co. 
for distribution by them during the World's Columbian 
Exposition. As I have since had no cause to modify 
my ideas relating to bass flshiug with the fly, I will 
reproduce them here: 

"The bass takes the fly at from six to nine inches 
beneath the surface of the water. Repeat your cast 
until you get the fly over the desired spot, then allow it 
to fall delicately upon the water. Let the fly sink to the 
desired depth. Then, elevating the tip of the rod, by 
a series of short, hesitatory jerks bring the fly toward 
you. On feeling a slight resistance strike smartly. The 
fly must light on the water without commotion and 
with the least possible ripple. 

"While the fly is sinking the bass has opportunity to 
investigate it; by the time the motion of the rod is 
given to the fly the bass is anxious to seize it, and, per- 
haps, is caught almost before the angler knows it. 

"Small bass you can catch in almost any bungling 
manner, but large bass must be kept in complete igno- 
rance of yourself, rod and line, otherwise you will sel- 
dom catch them. Small fry in disporting themselves 
do so without excessive violence. A frog in taking to 
the water does so in a quiet, easy manner, marking his 
submersion with a light splash devoid of any violent 
agitatory action; a small water-snake, alarmed in the 
act of swimming upon the surface, disappears almost 
silently. 

"Everything obejs the laws of Nature. So perfectly 
do bass recognize these laws that any line placed before 
them in a manner foreign to that which their instincts 
accept will be eyed with suspicion and left alone. 

"Seat yourself by the pleasant waterside and leai-n 
these lessons from Nature. The study will well repay. 



FOURTH OR MILTIMORB LAKE. 19 

Do not make fishing all mechanical work, combing the 
river from dawn till dark; investigate the wonderful 
watery world in which fishes so strangely have their 
being; learn there from reliable data which will assist 
you in their capture. In wading, avoid splashing the 
water or any violent.hasty movement ;advance stealtbily 
from one point to another. Should there be a slight 
deposit of mud over a hard bottom, lift the feet care- 
fully straight up from the bottom; this will prevent the 
water in your vicinity from becoming muddy. 

"Bass have a keen sight, and are easily alarmed, hence 
let the angler seize every advantage of natural cover; 
the projecting corners of banks, sedge beds, sudden 
bends and the like afford opportunities for approaching 
unawares. Do not foi'get to sink the fly well; the 
deeper the fly is in the water, the deeper the bass will 
be when he seizes it, therefore the less chance he has of 
seeing you and discovering the method of its presenta- 
tion; about nine inches is usually as deep as a fly can 
sink and clear the bottom growth of weeds. 

"Do not be too anxious to recover the fly from the 
water. Bring it toward you slowly, without undue 
haste, interposing its progress with slight momentary 
pauses. Thus a not over-hungry bass is given a chance 
to seize it; whereas, if pulled too quickly, a 'short rise' 
will be the result. 

"Now a few words as to those portions of a water 
in which to fish. Ignorance on this matter will render 
the best flies and the utmost pi'oficiency in using them 
of little avail. All waters have certain portions par- 
ticularly adapted as holding ground for bass, and other 
parts where bass are seldom or never found. Waste 
no time in fishing those dark deeper portions bordered 
with sedge and clear muddy bottom. Fish places with 
hard, irregular and rocky bottoms, here and there 
dotted with a sufficient deposit of mud to encourage a 
straggling growth of that variety of water grass which 
seldom grows quite tall enough to appear above the 
surface. This is a desirable formation, being sufficiently 



20 FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 

dense to afford to fishes cover and secrecy, without 
seriously impeding their movements." 

That bane of the angler— the dogfish— will be met 
with pretty frequently in Fourth Lalie. How annoying 
it is to have one's hopes raised by an unusually heavy 
strike, followed by a period of hard play, only to have 
the supposed big bass turn out an enormous dogfish. 
Speaking of dogfish reminds me of the first dogfish I 
ever captured, many, many years ago. 

It was on the Little Calumet River a little below 
Miller's, and a momentous trip it was for me, being the 
first time I had ever gone fishing in downright earnest, 
and I knew very little about it. My tackle consisted 
of a light rod, fine casting line, and small Limericl< 
hook, baited with a bunch of juicy squirming worms. 
I had hardly cast my line into the water before I ex- 
perienced such a determined, regular come-along, busi- 
ness-like pull as to make me wonder what the dickens 
had happened. I became dimly aware of hooking 
something, but what it was couldn't give the slightest 
guess. Then commenced a full fifteen minutes' strong 
battle between something which, while resisting all 
my efforts to raise it from the bottom, made a cease- 
less, steady detour of the deep pool before me. At the 
expiration of this period of time it evidently thought 
a little rest would be acceptable, for without further 
ado it quietly rested upon the bottom, and the utmost 
tension I desired to exert with my light tackle failed 
to shift it in the slightest, so I placed the rod upon the 
ground, and after a little search found a snake-rail 
fence; from this I took a rail about thirty-five feet long, 
and succeeded in reaching suflBciently far into the 
water to dislodge my captive and send him careering 
around the pool again. After a short period he rested 
again, and again I prodded him into action with the 
rail. For about four hours this circus went on; it was 
fifteen minutes' action and five minutes for recreation, 
alternately, until I began to wonder whether such a 



FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 




Mm 



22 FOURTH OR MILTIMORB LAKE. 

protracted test of endurance would not end in tiring 
myself out instead of my captive. 

At last, the groat unknown apparently shook off the 
apathetic behavior which had hitherto characterized 
his actions and began to show signs of irritability, 
leaving the bottom and coming to about mid-water, 
evidently making frantic efforts to get free from the 
hook. The water was so muddy that although on one 
occasion, by an unusually daring strain on the tackle, 
I nearly succeeded in forcing him to the top, yet I 
could not gain the slightest glimpse of my prize or 
form any opinion as to its identity. 

The fighting now became fast and furious; no more 
sulking, but a continuous, rapid, steady movement 
around and across the pool until, at last, the supreme 
moment arrived when, the prize lying directly under 
me, I prepared to bring him to the surface. Inch by 
inch, carefully I coaxed him, my expectations raised 
to such a pitch that I fairly trembled. At last it 
showed up, the enormous open trap of a huge, gasping, 
fagged-out old catfish, thirty pounds in weiglit. 

I was so paralyzed at the sight of my captive as to 
immediately drop everything, and if the fish had not 
been so thoroughly tuckered-out with its previous 
efforts, I would have lost him before regaining my 
nerve and the landing-net. However, when I did so. 
to land him was an easy matter, and I took him 
away back from the water's edge, and there pondered 
earnestly and long as to what the dickens kind of a 
fish it could be. I had had enough fishing for that 
day, so I packed up and started to go home, taking the 
Lake Shore tracks as the shortest way. 

About half a mile down the tracks I came across 
a gang of section hands at work; they were all Swedes 
excepting the foreman, who was a German and the 
only man speaking the American language. I knew 
most of these men by sight and was on pretty intimate 
terms with the foreman. 



FOURTH OR MILTIMORB LAKE. 



23 



L'''*ifer 




24 FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 

"Been fishing, Mr. Johnson?" he asked. "Had any 
luck?" 

"Well," I said, "I hardly know. I have got a fish in 
this bag, but what it is or if it is good to eat I cannot 
tell." 

A look of covetous surprise went around the group 
when I exhibited my fish, and the foreman, after 
recovering from his astonishment at the sight of so 
big a fish, remarked, indifferently: 

"Well, I guess you had better bui-y that fish right 
away." 

"Bury it!" I exclaimed, "why, isn't it good to eat?" 

"Good to eat!" he answered. "Good for nothing! 
Why it's a catfish, and deadly poison!" 

I was sadly disappointed at this intelligence and 
was turning dejectedly away, when the foreman hailed 
me, saying: 

"Here, Johnson, I tell you what I'll do; that fish 
has got an uncommon fine head, and would look well 
mounted, I'll give you a dime for it!" 

"Here's the fish," I said, "I don't want your dime; 
I'm glad you saved me the trouble of carrying it two 
miles farther in the hot sun!" 

It was two days after that wheu I heard what a 
scrumptious fish supper the gang had eaten at my 
expense, and for the next few days I could never pass 
the gang of section hands without a broad grin dis- 
playing itself upon the features of the Swedes, and 
hearing a bantering inquiry from the foreman as to 
whether I was going fishing or had another catfish 
to sell. 

However, I made up my mind to get a catfish, and 
one morning— rigged up with a strong pole and suit- 
able tackle — found me again at the same pool. I fished 
hard all day and was about giving up in disgust when, 
sure enough, I had a good strong bite, but nothing to 
compare with my previous one. After about ten min- 
utes' fight I landed him and this time it was a long, 
snaky looking fish with small wicked eyes, weighing 



FOURTH OR MILTIMORE LAKE. 25 

about eight pounds and looking something like a 
pickerel, but I knew it wasn't a pickerel. Triumph- 
antly I bore my prize away, down the track, until I 
met the section gang. Every one of them suspended 
work immediately I arrived, and clustered around 
with great interest. 

"Well, I'll be goldarued if Johnson ain't been and got 
a big dogfL\h this time," the foreman exclaimed. 

"A what?" I asked, in indignant protest. 

"It's a dogfish, sure, and the rottenest kind of fish 
that swims; why, you can't eat that thing!" 

"Come, now," I exclaimed, getting angry, "this is too 
stale; hei*e, the first fish I showed you you tell me is a 
catfish, unfit to eat, yet you fellows have the treat of 
your lives making a supper off it, and now you think 
jou can kid me again. Not much! But, now see here, 
boys, you can't do it, for this fish, no matter what kind 
of a fish it is, a dogfish, cowfish, horsefish, or any 
blarsted animal fish you like to call it, no matter what 
funny name you like to give, I'll take that fish home, 
cook and eat a couple of pounds of it if I die five 
minutes afterward. No, no!" I muttered, as I shoul- 
dered my fish and walked away, "you 'conned' me once, 
but you can't work that old game on me again." 

When I arrived at my bachelor establishment, I cut 
a good, generous three-pound steak from the shoulder 
of the fish, boiled it and on principle made the fish 
gorge of my life. For the next two weeks the medical 
gentleman from the nearest town called regularly at 
"Johnson's shack," as my little frame house was 
called; and, during that time, the many neighbors who 
came to inquire how I was progressing never got 
further than the door— the everlasting retching which 
greeted their ears leaving them in doubt as to whether 
Johnson was in the last throes of hydrophobia or re- 
linquishing his intestines piecemeal. 



26 



CROOKED LAKE. 




CROOHfD 



CHAPTER III. 

CROOKED LAKE. O'lEARY's GOOSE. 

I have asked several persons wbo are supposed to 
know: 

"Why is Crooked Lake so named? With the excep- 
tion of one man, everybody I aslied unhesitatingly 
answered: 

"Because it's so crooked, of course." 

The exception referred to was, I think, the only 
truthful one of my informants, for after pondering 
deeply for a few moments he turned around and 
frankly admitted he did not know and, furthermore, 
not feeling interested, didn't care a bean. Personally, 
I do not think Crooked Lake takes its name from the 
irregularity of its shore lines, for if this was the case 
nearly every lake, Avith few exceptions, that I know 
would have to be called Crooked Lake also. 

Many, many years ago, when I was a young fellow 
of seventeen, during a tour in Switzerland I made the 
acquaintance of a young German named Muller, a 
devil-may-care young student, just fresh from the uni- 
versity; we became great chums, clubbed our slender 
finances, and for two months traveled together and 
became inseparable. He was the most rollicksome, 
beer bibbing, aggressive mortal it ever has been my 
lot to meet, yet, withal, an unassuming, gentle-hearted 
creature, incapable of knowingly hurting a fly. 

During this trip we cudgeled our brains to devise 
tlie most absurd legendary lore regarding the many 
points of scenic interest in which the countrj^ is so 
prolific. Did a tall, jutting rock of some peculiarly 
striking shape require a name and befitting history 
we supplied it. Did some particularly monstrous 
chasm in our opinion lay claim to special importance, 

(27) 



28 CROOKED LAKE. 

■\vo f^ratifuHl it, in most cmsos intorwoavinj; a cluiin 
of events portrnyinp: the proverbial love-lorn beautiful 
damsel, tlie ilespairini:; lover ami the a\ ielced villain, 
endlujx with a tableau of trai^ie netion in which the 
point of interest found a conspicuous part. Witli as- 
siduous perseverance we traced back to the darkest 
njres the why and the M'hereforo of the many sights 
of interest to the tourist, supplying data, romance, the 
supernatural and blood-curdling historic events "se- 
cundum artem;" and in tliose cases (wliich were ex- 
tremely numerous) wliere autliontic inlormation failed, 
supplying tlie deliciency from our imaginations. 

We Hooded tlie smaller journ;ils witli our communi- 
cations ou tliis subject; and, as the old adage says, 
"In throwing mud some sticks," so it was in this case; 
altliough mo«t of the older and more experienced 
papers refused to accept our versions, still many of the 
smaller ones gave credence to our fairy tales and cir- 
culated much information which became accepted, and 
has since been embodied in many of the guide books 
of the locality. I remember at tlie time we both con- 
sidered ourselves public benefactors and entitled to 
the thanks and goiioral liom;ige of tlie Swiss public at 
large. 

I have no doubt if my friend Muller was now on 
hand he could, without greatly discommoding his in- 
ventive faculties, invest the various waters of the lake 
region with an amount of interesting legendary lore, 
possibly of the lliawathian kind, which, although it 
miglit give rise to mucli discursive comment and sur- 
prise among the older residents, would still have to 
be received in silence because of their inability to con- 
tradict it. At any rate, I am conluleut that if young 
Muller was only on hand and given half a chance 
in this matter, I should not have to confess my inability 
to furnish any interesting history regarding the deriva- 
tion of the names of the various waters wliicli 1 am 
to mention in these articles 

Crooked Lake alTords very line pickerel, perch and 



CnOOKED LAKK. 2D 

bass fislung. Its goueral characteristics regarding 
sport are souietliing lllce tliose of Sauil Lalie, eitlior 
big catclios of large flslies or a total blaulc, but unlilce 
Saud Lalce in this respect— the blauli days are not 
nearly so frequent. 

The best bass ground is that in the deepish water 
on both sides of the bar, and even when tlie bass ai*e 
feeding in a desultory fashion and lacking vim in biting 
in other portions of the lake, the ground surrounding 




"THAT Uilul i, (<h .A i.lll(lU> W A,-< HAI!I>KK 
THAN HOCK ITSKLK" 

the bar will generally be found to yield a tisli or two 
if perseveringly coaxed. The lily pads on the east 
side of the lake contain very large bass, and that spot 
is splendid evening fishing. 

Minnows, frogs and artificial baits all have their 
respective admirers, but I am convinced from personal 
experience the ground around the bar will yield bigger 
catches to the angler who uses minnows than any other 



30 CROOKED LAKE. 

bait, anUiflcial or otherwise. For fishing the deeper 
reaches of any water minnows are unquestionably the 
best bait, and I think the next best all-round bait is 
a spoon and porli rind. With a minnow the angler can 
dwell on his cast, allowing the bait to make short 
periodical stops during its progress tlirougli the waiter, 
thus giving a not over hungry fish the opportunity to 
seize it; but with the spoon and pork rind the lui'e has 
to bo kept on the move all the time, otherwise its al- 
luring powers— the spin— are wanting. The mosit killing 
shape in which to cut a pork rind is to take a strip 
about two and one-half inches long and one inch wide, 
cut a forked fish tail in one end and similar forks to- 
ward the center, one on each side of the strip, and 
trim the remainder to one-half inch in width; then in- 
sert one of the treble hooks in the narrow end. This 
s.ize is about right to use uixin a No. 4 Skinner spoon. 

This bait is a most killing lure for both bass and 
pickerel; the pendant tails of the pork rind dangling 
and swaying when drawn through the water, in a par- 
ticularly seductive and enticing manner. In many in- 
stances a fish, wlien not feeding well, particularly after 
a protracted cold spell toward the end of the season, 
wiill refuse to pursue the too quickly receding artificial 
bait, when the same fish would seize a minnow which 
lingers sufficiently long in its vicinity to allow of its 
being mouthed without too much exertion. 

In fact, with all predatory fishes, unless they are 
feeding freely, the more leisurely the bait is drawn 
through the water the better are the chances of catcli- 
ing them. 

The nearer the temperature of the atmosphere to that 
of the water the better fishes feed. If the air is chilly, 
providing the water is the same, sport may be had; if 
the water is warm, the atmospliere should be warm 
also. After a continued spell of hot weather the watea* 
becomes thoroughly warmed and the advent of a cold 
wind or cooler temperature will cause the fishes to 
cease feeding as though by magic. During a hot spell 



CROOKED LAKE. 31 

the more humidity tliere is in tlie atmospliere the better 
fish take the bait. The moon unquestionably exercises 
a great influence on the feeding habits of fish. As the 
moon approaches its full fish display less inclination 
to feed dming the day, and as the moon wanes fish 
will be found to give better sport to the angler. 

Through the warmer months fish will seize a bait 
nearer the surface than during the colder ones, and 
after the first spell of chilly weather, generally about 
the latter end of October or commencement of Novem- 
ber, the bait must be sunk deeper in the water to en- 
sui-e its being taken. 

No living thing is so susceptible to the immediate 
influence of heat and cold as a fish. Change of tempera- 
ture will at once influence its feeding humor. Fishes 
are cold-blooded and it takes heat to stir them into 
activity, whereas cold engenders torpidity and inaction 
with less desire for food. 

One of the oldest and most familiar frequenters of 
Crooked Lake is Cook County Commissioner James 
Munn, who has taken probably more large catches 
from its water than any other angler living. It was 
while fishing Ci'ooked and the surrounding lakes that 
Mr. Munn first conceived the idea of the weedless 
hook which now bears his name. I know that many 
anglers have an antipathy to a weedless hook, on gen- 
eral principles, but there is, unquestionably, excellent 
fishing water in the lake region, teeming with large 
fishes, which it would be impossible to fish without a 
weedless hook; and my experience of the Munn 
weedless is that it allows a man to make big catches 
in such places which would be inaccessible to the 
ordinary unguarded hook- 

I had an aunt once, an Ii'ish lady who by some means 
or another had slipped into our family before I was 
born. Her name was Fatima O'Dowd, a jovial, dear, 
good-humored old lady, possessing a rich brogue and an 
extensive unentailed estate in North Donegal. With- 
out intentional disrespect, we boys and, in fact, all the 



32 CROOKED LAKE. 

family, had dropiped into the habit of alludiug to her as 
"Aunt Fatty," and although this nickname described 
the dear old soul's appearance pretty accurately, yet 
she was never offended at the nickname. I never see 
Crooked Lake without thinking of a piece of water— 
the vei-y counterpart of Crooked Lake in size, shape 
and surroundings— upon Aunt Fatty's Irish domain, 
filled with the finest lot of large pickerel I have ever 
seen. 

Dear old Aunt Fatty, she is dead and gone now many, 
many years, and among her many peculiarities was that 
of not allowing any game to be killed upon the estate, 
or a fish to be taken from the river and lake upon the 
estate. Yet she was the warmest-hearted and most 
charitable landowner in Irelaud, and during many a 
severe Winter it would have gone hard with her 
tenants if Aunt Fatty had not grub-staked them. 
Every New Year's Day she would drive around to her 
tenants and ask them which they prefeiTed, a pair of 
ducks or a goose, for their New Yeair's present. She in- 
vai-iably gave them one or the other at this period of 
the year. 

I recollect one year every tenant wanted a goose, and 
how to raise sixty geese was a problem which sadly 
puzzled her on her homeward journey; so when on 
reaching home one of the giirls told her Andy O'Leary 
was below, waiting to see her about some geese he was 
wanting to sell, down she went, right away, to inter- 
view him. 

"Shure, Mrs. O'Dowd," said Andy, "it's some fat 
geese ye'll be after wanting for your New Year's 
prisintations? 

"Yes, I do," said Aunty; "sixty birds." 

"Sixty bhurds, is it?" Andy echoed; "why, shure. 
Ma'am, its jist the selfsame amount I'm after offering; 
every blessed bhurd as tender as a colleen's conscience 
and plump and foine-looking as your own swate silf 5 
and," added Andy, sinking his voice to a confidential 
whisper, "the pricei to you is only a shilling apiece, but 



CROOKED LAKE. 



33 



for biven's sake don't mintion it to a living body; shure 
they'd boycott me, every mother's son, for asking less 
than two shillings a bhurd!" 

Knowing Andy to be a pretty reliable fellow in 
bargains of this kind, after some little talk Aunty 




"AND ERECTED A MOUND TO HIS MEMORY" 

consented to take the birds, and Andy went away 
happy with instructions to kill, draw and deliver the 
geese to the tenants and call up at the big house a 
week later for his money. 

It was about two weeks afterward that one of the 
tenants, Mrs. McCarty, called to see Aunty on some af- 
fair of trifling import and Aunty casually asked her 



34 CROOKED LAKE. 

how she had enj03'etl her New Year's goose. At this 
query Mrs. McCarty became terribly embarrassed. 

"By all the saiuts in hiven, Ma'am," she replied, " 'tis 
au oiimintionable subject iu our house; aud the tou'gli 
uulioly baste lies this mluit ou the top shelf of thv, 
cabin, unateu." 

"Why, you surprise me," said Aunty, "for Andy 
O'Leary assured me his geese were all young and 
tender!" 

"Andy O'Leary!" screeched Mrs. McCarty; "and is it 
to that murthering rascal I'm risponsible for me 
throuble? Why, Mrs. O'Dowd, Ma'am, begging your 
ladyship's humble pardon for spakiug of it, I boiled 
that blaggaard of a goose for one whole night and two 
blissed days, before ever so much as the prong of a 
fork could make a dent on hi® leathery old carcass; 
and it's roasted and well basted before a slow fiiv it 
was for jist another day, by little Mickey; and then I 
thought, 'surely 'tis tinder and atable the bhurd should 
be now!' But, Mrs. O'Dowd, dear, thrue as I'm shtand- 
ing here in your prisinee, that dhoul of a bhurd Avas 
harder than rock itsilf ! Wasn't it me husband wlio at- 
tiimipted to gnaw a bite of mate from the terrible thing 
and broke off short the only three teeth in his face; and 
wasn't it little Mickey, who's now at home wid his jaw 
cracked and me best woolen scarf round his innercent 
little skull to keep his little face straight at all, at all, 
because the unthinking little gossoon imagined he 
could chate the bhurd's leg of a bite of grissle? Oh, 
Mrs. O'Dowd, 'tis sorra the day you prisinted me wid 
that garralikin of a bhurd!" 

As Aunty had received no complaints from the other 
tenants, she felt sure that some mistake had been made 
by Andy, and finally persuaded Mrs. McCarty to go 
over to Andy's cabin and find out the facts of the case; 
at the same time counseling her to make the necessary 
inquiries in a peaceable and neighborlike manner. 

Mrs. McCarty started on her errand and soon arrived 



CROOKED LAKE. 35 

at the O'Leary I'esidence, where she was welcomed in 
the most cordial manner by Mrs. O'Leary and informed 
that Andy was not at home. After the first greetings 
were over and a little preliminaiy chat had been 
broached, Mrs. McCarty came straight to the matter in 
hand. 

"Mrs. O'Leary," she said, putting on her most per- 
suasive smile and best company manners, "Oi would 
loike to know where Andy found that devil of a goose 
he left at my cabin two weeks ago?" 

"Shure, darlint, I'll tell you," the other replied, " 'twas 
old Patsy; me husband, the Lord forgive him, killed 
the bhurd by misitake, and 'tis mesilf that haven't done 
crooning and lamenting for the loss of my old favorite 
yet!" 

"Old Patsy!" ejaculated Mrs. McCaity; "who's old 
Patsy?" 

"Why, Mrs. McOarty, dearie, '^ils joursilf that's 
aware me maiden name was Patsy before I married 
that unthinking gossoon, Andy O'Leary; and, bedad, 
'tis thrue that Patsy and I were gossoons together. 
Me father prisinted me wid the bhuird for a playmate 
whin I was jist a year old, and I'm jist sixty-three yeai-s 
this coming Michaelmas!" 

"Holy Katie!" yelled Mrs. McCarty; "tell me, is it 
thrue I attimpted to cuke and ate a goose sixty-three 
years old?" 

"Indade and 'tis," sorrowfully acquiesced her old 
neighbor; "sorra the day such a terrible mishtake hap- 
pened. But, Mrs. McCarty, darlint, shure ye can sym- 
pathize wid me loss. I know ye have never aiten the 
poor, stringy old darlint; send me his ramanes, if 'tis 
only Ms bones, and take a sorrowing lone woman's 
blissing and the fattest and best goose in the pig-stye 
home wid yees!" 

The upshot of the matter was, Mrs. McCarty de- 
parted with a plump green goose, and well satisfied 
with her old neighbor's explanation. Old Patsy's re- 



36 CROOKED LAKE, 

mains were duly forwarded to the disconsolate Mrs. 
O'Leary, who buried her defunct favorite behind the 
cabin and erected a mound to Ms memory. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CEDAR LAKE. TUBBY'S SECOND RUN. A PATRIOTIC 
LOBSTER. 

There are some persons of so peculiarly receptive 
temperament that, once an idea finds lodgment in their 
brain, it remains to the utter exclusion of. everything 
else. Cedar Lake is always associated in my mind 
with such an individual. His name was Percy Regi- 
nald Plantagauet Tubbs. It follows without saying that 
nn individual bearing so luxuriant an appendage of 
given names was of British extraction. According to 
his oAvn version he AA'as a darlj, dark, blue-blooded 
aristocrat, tracing a direct lineal descent from King 
Alfred of burnt cake renown; but according to the re- 
port of his bosom friend and fellow refugee, Jimmy 
Smith, Tubbs, or Tubby as we alwajs called him, was 
the result of a common-law marriage between a Bill- 
ingsgate fish girl and a Shoreditch bogle jerker, or in 
other words, one of those industrious individuals in- 
digenous to all large cities, who nnd pocketbooks before 
they are lost. 

However, it is not of Tubbs' pedigree I would speak, 
but rather of his angling exploits. The first time I 
fished Cedar Lake I took Tubby with me, intending to 
initiate him into the m3'steries of pickerel fishing. 

The first day I had to run over to Waukegan on busi- 
ness. But, before doing so, I took Tubby down to the 
lake, rigged him out with suitable tackle, and a big 
bob float beneath which dangled an unusually large, 
lively chub. My principal instruction to Tubby was 
the following: 

"When a pickerel takes the bait, let him have it un- 
til he makes the second run; then strike him! But, on 

(37) 



38 CEDAR LAKE. 

no account, strike bim until he does lualie tlie second 
run." 

After fixing him up all right and telling him what 
time to expect me back, in the evening, I jumped into 
the buggy and was about to start, when away went 
Tubby's big float with a terrific x'ush, evidently tugged 
at by a large fish. On looking at my watch I found 
there was barely time to catch my train, so calling to 
Tubby to remember my directions, and on no account 
to strike until the fish made the second run, I drove 
away. , 

It was late in the evening when I returned to the 
hotel and Tubby had not come in from the lake. I 
called a couple of the boys and we hurried off to the 
spot at which I had left Tubby in the morning. There, 
in the gathering gloom, Ave found him, eagerly watch- 
ing his rod, Avith rapt attention, oblivious to everything 
around. 

"Hallo, Tubby, old man, any luck?" I asked. 

"How the bloody blazes do I know yet?" he answered 
pettishly. 

"Well, old chap," I said; "if after fishing for fourteen 
mortal hours in one spot, you are unable to answer my 
query, you must be a bird of a fisherman." 

"Oh, rats!" he jerked out, "the blarsted fish ain't 
made his second run yet!" 

"What!" I roared, in amazement; "do you seriously 
mean to say this is the same bite I left you with this 
morning?" 

"Course it is," he replied. 

We took a boat and by the aid of a lamp followed 
the line through the weeds (for to budge it an inch 
by the hardest pulling we found to be impossible), until 
we ultimately reached the spot at which the line term- 
inated in a large bunch of weeds, weighing about a 
hundredweight. This we lifted into the boat and rowed 
ashore, where we commenced to examine it. There, in 
the very center of the weedy mass, was Tubby's hook, 
and attached to it the gills only of what had recently 



CEDAR LAKE. 39 

been an enormous pickerel, Avhich, judging from the 
size of the relic on the hook, must have weighed at 
least thirty pounds; but where the rest of the fish was 
the Lord, or more correctly speaking the turtles, only 
know. 
Cedar Lake is reached from Lake Villa Depot, on the 








"EAGERLY WATCHING HIS ROD, WITH RAPT ATTENTION" 

Wisconsin Central, is a trifle over fifty miles from 
Chicago, and affords excellent bass and pickei'el fish- 
ing. The fishing in Celar Lake is at its best during 
September and October. 

The deep pickerel hole marked A on the chart contains 
large fishes, but I have never had much success fish- 



40 CEDAR LAKE. 

ing in the deep water, but rather on the "ground" ad- 
joining the deep water and leading to the fringe of 
weeds north of the deep hole. I am of the opinion 
that large pickerel, when they retire to the deep waters, 
do so for privacy and concealment, and are not in a 
feeding humor. The shalloAv pocket north of the 
island is one of the best bass grounds for evening fish- 
ing in the lake. 

The rocky bottom between the Island and the rush 
bed on the west point of the island will at times yield 
fairly good sport to the fly fisliermau, small and me- 
dium-sized bass being very plentiful. It is i-arely that 
fly-fishing for bass is productive of large fishes, half 
a pound to tliree-quarters, with an occasional pounder; 
but the sport that can be enjoyed with a half-pound 
bass upon the fiy-rod is fully equal to that of a two- 
pounder upon the bait-casting rod. Of course, the 
smaller bass should be returned to the water, and 
nobody who claims to be a sportsman would 
think of retaining a bass under a pound weight (unless 
the fish is so injured as to render its living uncertain), 
and this is small enough in all conscience. 

A very fine bass ground for early morning and late 
evening fishing is that off the Aveed bed on the east 
end of the lake, and thence around the southern shore 
of the island. This stretch of fishing ground, if fished 
carefully when the bass are feeding there, will gen- 
erally give the angler a big catcli. 

I have generally found frogs to be the best bait for 
evening fishing in Cedar Lake, on those bass grounds 
adjoining the sliore line. 

The deep hole on the northeast spur, marked B, is 
another excellent bass ground. The fislies come out to 
feed in the slialiower water surrounding it. The finest 
c.'itch of bass I have ever seen taken by an individual 
ajigler, from Cedar Lake, at one time, was that taken 
six years ago by my old friend George Wilberforce. He 
came down on the early morning train one Saturday, 
started in fishing at 11 a. m.. and left again for Chi- 



CEDAR LAKE. 



41 



cago by the evening train; altogether he was not ac- 
tually Ashing more than four hours, and two hours of 
this time he wasted in locating the ground. His catch 
Avas nine black bass weighing thirty-six pounds, and a 
finer and more equal-sized lot of fish I have never 
seen, considering the circumstances of the catch. His 
bait had dwindled down to four frogs, an imperfect 
frog bag, during his journey down, having allowed the 
remainder of a dozen to escape. He carefully econo- 
mized on his bait, using only the leg of a frog instead 



c,nAiL0W Poc/rer 







CfDAR LAM^ 



of the whole, and with these four frogs he caught the 
nine bass mentioned. 

George, poor fellow, is now no more; but many were 
the delightful outings I enjoyed in his companj'. He 
fell a victim to his love of salmon fishing, three years 
ago, when wading a particularly dangeroiis, precipi- 
tous-bordered, salmon pool in North Donegal, Ireland. 
He inadvertently stepped into a deep hole, his waders 
filled at the waist, and unable to extricate himself he 
drowned. 

The first time I met George Avas on the Furnesia dur- 



42 CEDAR LAKE. 

ing au ocean trip from Moville to New York. He was 
making a fisliiug trip to the Pacific Coast, in company 
with tliree other Englishmen. One of them was named 
Fitzgerald, and the names of the others I cannot re- 
member. It was their first visit to the United States, 
and Fitzgerald, like most Englishmen on their first 
visit, viewed tlie customs and manners of the country 
in a somewhat supercilious and contemptuous light. 
George stood a dinner in New York before we sepa- 
rated, at some hotel, I think as near as I can remember 
It was the Bryant House. I shall never forgot the look 
which the head waiter gave our party, when Fitzgerald, 
after we were seated at the table, putting on his mono- 
cles and most killing, languid air, and after looking 
at the bill of fare, remarked that a freshly boiled lob- 
ster would be just the thing; adding in a contemptuous 
manner he supposed it would be impossible to obtain 
such a luxury in America. The waiter, with blood 
In his eye, told him he guessed he could be accommo- 
dated, so Fitzgerald added a lobster to the already 
varied order. 

We started in with soup. It was vermicelli, and re- 
markably good; but Fitzgerald found fault with it. 

The wait between the soup and the fish was some- 
what protracted, fully twenty minutes, and during this 
interval Fitzgerald indulged in sai-castic remarks about 
the country. 

However, presently the lobster made its appearance, 
and such a lobster! Never before and never since have 
I seen such a remarkable crustacean. It appeared to 
weigh fifty pounds, and I think the waiter, out of pure 
patriotism, must have scoured the counti*y for miles 
around to obtain the largest lobster in existence. It 
made its debut on an enormous platter, and ye gods! 
what an avalanche of lobsterian matter descended in 
our midst when it was placed on the table. First was 
the body cut carefully in sections, each section pur- 
posely placed in a position calculated to display its 
mammoth proportions to the utmost; piled crosswise 



CEDAR LAKE. 43 

above rose the smaller claws and crossing the whole 
were the two huge claws, each one a feast for a dozen 
liuugrj'- men. 

We all sat dumfounded at the spectacle! Even 
Fitzgerald was mum, unable to say a word, while 
the waiter stood by with the most serious countenance 
imaginable, and glibly apologized for having to serve 
us with such a small lobster, stating that the house 
was out of large ones; but as we appeared so anxious 




'yb gods! what an avalanche of lobsterian matter 
descended in our midst" 



to have lobster he had heavily bribed the cook to send 
that one to the table, it being a standing order of the 
hotel that no lobster weighing less than two hundred- 
weight was ever to be put on the table, as a lobster 
weighing less than that lacked the peculiar delicious 
flavor and piquancy so much sought after by epicures. 
"Holy smoke!" was all the astounded Fitzgerald could 
gasp, "if this is a small American lobster, what in the 
world are the big ones like?" 



44 



DEEP LAKE AND SUN LAKE. 



BASS GH,OUNP 




ICE MOUSE- 



Deep Lake 



CHAPTER V. 

DEEP LAKE AND SUN LAKE. TOMMY AND THE GOAT. 

Instead of teaching the young idea how to shoot, 1 
have endeavored to instil into the mind of Johnson 
Junior a due appreciation of the delights of fishing. A 
trip for perch, three weeks ago, so enthused my oldest 
son Tommy that he has since been able to think and 
speak of nothing but fishing. 

At the present moment Tommy is laid up for repairs, 
is in the deepest disgrace, and bears the general ap- 
pearance of a small boy who has inadvertently run up 
against a thrashing machine. This state of affairs is 
all due to Tommy's attempt to prematurely enjoy the 
pleasure of playing and killing a large fish, or, more 
correctly speaking, a big goat of the William species. 

It appears that Tommy was so brimful of the day's 
sport he had with the perch on his memorable fishing 
trip, that he talked the matter over with a neighbor's 
boy, and they mutually agreed it would be splendid 
fun to hook something big, to chase it around in turns, 
and hold the rod alternately, just to see how it would 
feel to have something big pulling at the top of a 
fish pole. After much" confab it was decided the some- 
thing big in this instance should be an old billy goat 
belonging to one of the neighbors. 

Tommy and his fellow conspirator, by the judicious 
presentation of a plug of tobacco, succeeded in de- 
taching the goat from his usual pasture of odds and 
ends, and inveigling him into our back lot when the 
rest of the family were away. They thoughfully bor- 
rowed my favorite Bethabara casting rod, fixed up the 
reel, and having rigged it up with an extra strong 
running line and big hook, Tommy took the rod for 
the first innings. The neighbor's boy fixed the hook 

(45) 



46 DEEP LAKE AND SUN LAKE. 

firmly in the goat's hindquarters and commenced to do 
the chasing. 

The ungrateful goat, unable to appreciate the humor 
of the situation, refused to be chased, for after one 
swift run, and the emittance of one heartrending 
bleat— during which he made almost superhuman 
efforts to extricate the hook— he returned at express 
speed and commenced a most malignant assault upon 
Tommy. My beautiful Bethabara rod was reduced to 
splinters, and Tommy— when the goat was through 
with him— was the most dilapidated small boy for 
many miles around. The tribute of the neighbor's 
boy to the goat's fit of indignation was the quicliest 
sprint of his life, and one of the neighboi's who hap- 
pened in at the finale informed me confidentially that 
he never saw a kid make better time in a flat race in 
his life. 4 

I am deeply thankful I have never encouraged 
Tommy to go gunning. His nature is so imitative and, 
withal, so extremely ardent in everything he under- 
takes, that I feel sure he would have taken my shotgun 
and borrowed a few of the neighbors' babies to practice 
upon. 

Deep Lake and Sun Lake are two others of the 
several lakes located in the near vicinity of Lake Villa 
Depot, on the Wisconsin Central, whose waters afford 
good pickerel and bass fishing. 

Many of the best fishing grounds in Deep Lake are 
comparatively open and free from surface weeds, en- 
abling the angler to use a spoon to advantage; in fact, 
several of the oldest frequenters of Deep Lake, who 
are noted for their big catches, fish principally with a 
spoon and short, bait-casting rod. 

There is quite a knack in using a spoon with the bait- 
casting rod in those places where surface vegetation 
occasionally appears. The spoon has to be cast lightly 
(great care being taken that the reel does not over- 
run), and then recovered quickly and brought toward 
the angler before it can sink and catch the weeds. 



DEEP LAKE AND SUN LAKE. 



47 



Fishing witli the spoon is much more exciting sport 
than fishing with minnows, insomuch that the spoon 
is used near the surface, and the fish when striliing it 
is obliged to break the water. This also applies to 
fishing with live frogs in the patches fringing the 
rush beds. 

The bass ground, marked A on Sun Lake, is an 
exceptionally fine fishing ground whenever the fishes 
are feeding. 

From the icehouse on the south point of Deep Lake, 




and commenced a most malignant assault upon 
tommy" 

on both sides of the bank of bass weeds and grass, is 
fine bass fishing. The best pickerel ground is found 
on the east side of the lake, as shown on the map. 
The deep hole in the north end of the lake contains 
large bass and pickerel, but unless the weather is 
somewhat chilly it is best to fish the surrounding 
rush beds immediately adjoining. 



48 



HASTINGS LAKK. 




'i managed to ckawl and cling to the slol'e cleak of the 
water" 



CHAPTER VI. 

HASTINGS LAKE. MY POETICAL FISHING FRIEND. 

ANGLING FOR AN OTTER. 

When but a callow youth, I used to go a-fishing with 
a young man of the same age as myself. He was a 
gentle, lamb-like creature with large bovine eyes and 
long, black hair; uncut from the day he was born. His 
facial expression reminded one of an old cow who 
has long ceased to trouble herself with the cares of 
maternity. He was a poet, and used to seek my com- 
pany and the pleasant waterside to contemplate loveli- 
ness and compose poems. He stuck to me with a per- 
tinacity that was truly embarrassing, and the only 
reason I could not rid myself of him was due to the 
fact of being too tender-hearted to kill him. 

He once wrote an ode to his fishing rod which he re- 
cited to it one morning just previous to using it, and 
tlie rod was so utterly (leiiioralizt'd it snapped into tliir- 
teen pieces the first cast he attempted. I merely men- 
tion this fact to show how atrocious his muse must 
have been. 

The only time I ever licked him was when he at- 
tempted to read me some verses. He called them 
"Crumblets of Angling Reminiscences." They were as 
follows: 

"The little streamlet on the hill, 

Within the village chnrch, 
From which, three weeks ago to-night, 
I collared that wall-eyed perch. 

"Away beyond the hamlet's reach, 

With many a pout and pucker, 
Meanders the tiny rivulet 

Where I cinched that eight-pound sucker. . 

"And just below the gai-den patch 

Of Mickey Doolau's shanty. 
Is the alder tree that sheltered me 

While I made the bullheads ante." 

The method by which at last I rid myself of him was 

(49) 



50 HASTINGS LAKE. 

an introduction to a sweet little girl cousin of mine, at 
the same time Iiinting he was a young gentleman of 
wonderful parts and great expectations. She bit right 
away, and married him three days afterward, thus 
earning my everlasting gratitude. 

I am aware the above is not in any manner con- 
nected with the avowed subject of this article, and I 
merely introduce it as a warning to those weak-minded 
brothers of the angle whom the delightful environ- 
ments of their pursuit might seduce from the dutiful 
path of angling to that of the sinful and unpardonable 
practice of bad verse maliing. 

Hastings Lalce lies about half a mile east of Croolied 
Lake, and although fairly well fished of late years, it 
still holds its own in the matter of sport to the angler. 
There are plenty of good-sized bass and pickerel within 
its waters, and big catches are often made by those 
fishermen acquainted with the locality. Hastings Lake 
is a trifle further from Lake Villa Depot than most of 
the lakes in the vicinity, hence comparatively few of 
the anglers who stop off at Lake Villa ever fish it. 

There is but one slight bar in the lake; it is in the 
deepest water, leading to the rush line on the east side. 

The lake, all round inshore, affords excellent bass 
fishing. Off the point of the bar is good perch ground. 
The pickerel ground is all around the lake line leading 
to the deepish water. Small frogs are the best bait 
to use when fishing for bass near inshore, and minnows 
when fishing for pickerel in the deeper waters adjoin- 
ing. The best trolling water will be found on the 
north and east shores. 

The sportsman who has never hunted or fished in the 
vast tangled wilderness of the Far West can form no 
conception of the arduous work and appalling difli- 
culties he has to surmount in his journeyings. My old 
friend Cap' Riley of Portland, Ore., one of the best 
known elk hunters in the state, has often remarked it 
was worth a hundred dollars to get a pair of elk's 
horns out from the wilderness into the confines of 



HASTINGS LAKE. 



51 



civilization; and I fully agree with him in this asser- 
tion. The foothills and mountains are one mass of 
tangled underbrush, immense treefalls and sinuous In- 



JAf^ES KIIS6 




HASTINGS Lake 



tergrown vines, through which the sportsman must 
pick and creep his way in the slowest and most tedious 
manner. Here a mammoth butt of fallen pine to sur- 
mount; there a thicket of intricate and seemingly im- 



52 HASTINGS LAKE. 

passable vine maple to crawl through, varied by vast 
mounds of upturned soil and deep holes. 

It was early one morning, in 1893, I left my ranch 
on a spur of the Bear Mountain, in Cowlitz County, 
for a day's salmon fishing in the Kalama River, four 
miles north. The nature of the surroundings necessi- 
tated my taking even this short distance a two days' 
trip if I wished to spend a few hours on the stream. 
A short bait-casting rod, revolver, hunting knife, and a 
few pounds of beans, with a morsel of salt pork, was 
all I dared to load myself with. My object on this 
trip was to satisfy myself whether a salmon would 
take a spoon bait. 

I started in at the Kalama Ci'eek, which ended in 
the Kalama River, and fished the larger pools on my 
way down, picking up a half a dozen large rainbow 
trout and returning the Dolly Vardens and cutthroats, 
as this species of trout are called, to the water; I reached 
the Kalama River about three in the afternoon, and 
after fixing up camp started in for the evening fishing. 

The spot I selected was a spacious rocky basin, 
shaped not unlike a huge bowl, with precipitous rocks 
rising either side several hundred feet in height, the 
sides studded with a scant growth of stunted under- 
brush and here and there spanned by the huge trunk 
of some fallen pines. The pool was probably fifty feet 
wide in the center, ending some forty yards below in 
a fall of about fifteen feet. The current was unusually 
strong and rapid. I intended to skirt this pool on its 
shallowest side, hugging the rocky wall on my left 
until I reached a big rock which stood out high and 
dry overlooking the fall. 

I donned my waders, strapping them tightly around 
my waist, and slipped over my head an old inflated air 
cushion to provide against an accidental submersion. 
Experience has taught me the value of this precau- 
tion, and I would advise every angler who wades rapid 
streams with deep holes to wear either an inflated col- 
lar or a light collaret of cork around his neck when 



HASTINGS LAKE. 53 

wading, for if a deep hole is inadvertently stepped into 
and the waders fill (which in nine cases out of ten they 
will do), the buoyancy of the collar will keep the head 
above the water until a foothold can be reached. 

After rigging up my rod I found I had left my spoon 
at home. This was a poser. There I was, on the most 
magnificent stretch of water that ever greeted an 
angler's vision, without the means of fishing it. How- 
ever, I concluded to try something; so rigging up a 
large piclierel gang of four treble hooks mounted on 
a twisted snell of salmon gut, each treble about two 
inches apart, I selected the biggest of the rainbow 
trout from my creel— a fish weighing nearly a pound- 
and rigged it with the pickerel gang in just the same 
manner as though I was about to spin for pickerel 
with a small minnow. 

When all Avas ready I cautiously waded into the 
pool almost to the top of my waders, and swaying the 
lioavy bait made so loug a east that, instead of entering 
tlie water, it lodged on a ledge of rock a little above the 
surface on the opposite side. I allowed it to remain 
there a few moments and then gently pulled it off into 
the water, which it entered in a quiet, noiseless man- 
ner with scarcely a splash to mark its submersion. I 
commenced to reel in gently, and almost before I had 
made half a dozen turns of the reel handle a long 
brownish object appeared to rise from the bottom 
like a lightning flash and seize it, tightening the line 
and bending my rod nearly double. Almost simultane- 
ously with this happening, the brownish object sud- 
denly ceased its pull, and before I could sufficiently 
collect my thoughts it shot across the pool toward me 
and came full tilt against my legs, knocking me head 
over heels into the watei. 

I was next aware of a sharp prick in the calf of my 
leg, of something hanging thereon and frantically 
struggling to detach itself, and when I recovered a 
precarious foothold at the end of the pool to which I 
had been swept by the rapid rush of water, I looked 



V' 



54 HASTINGS LAKE. 

down and discovered the largest dog otter I have ever 
seen firmly hooked through my waders into the flesh, 
struggling like a very demon to free himself, and ap- 
parently as scared as I was myself at the novelty of 
the situation. 

I attempted to scramble up the steep sides of the 
pool with my captive, but was so flurried and scared 
that little headway was made. My waders were full 
of water, and this and the weight of the otter made it 
hard work for me to obtain any secure hold. How- 
ever, after what seemed to me to be hours, I managed 
to crawl and cling to the slippei^y rocky slope clear of 
the water, but could get no farther, having by this 
time, by the combined efforts of my fright and scram- 
ble, become pretty well exhausted. Just at this critical 
moment the snell broke, leaving one set of hooks in 
my leg, and the other in the otter, who dropped into the 
water with a loud splash and disappeared immediately. 
Rid of my burden, with much labor I managed to crawl 
to a more secure resting-place. 

I took off my waders and found that such was the 
force of the struggle the strong Mackintosh of my 
waders had been torn some three inches down, and the 
hook was so deeply imbedded in the flesh that, instead 
of resorting to the old method of turning the barb out- 
ward and bringing the shank through after' it, I had to 
cut quite deep into the flesh to extricate it, making 
quite a good sized Avound. However, I stopped the 
bleeding with some tobacco leaves, and limped home, 
wondering whether it was possible that I could ever 
meet with a more strange happening than that which 
had just occurred. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Huntley's lake, swallowing a fish-hook. 

I remember some three years ago fishing Huntley's 
Lake with Tom McGee. Tom is now somewhere in 
Canada, whither he went in search of health. He was 
an individual who lived under the impression that a 
portion of his liver was missing, a thin-faced, jaundice- 
eomplexioned little fellow, always suffering from some 
imaginary complaint or another and at the same time 
hunting for a remedy for that disorder. Every few 
weelis he would malve the appalling discovery that one 
or another of his internal organs was either hopelessly 
deranged, missing altogether, or else turned topsy- 
turvy. When I first knew him he had run the whole 
gamut of his internal economy, from his gall to his 
sweetbreads, and was then arriving at the firm con- 
viction that an accident at birth had deprived him of 
his proper share of liver. 

The amount of medicine that Tom always traveled 
with was immense. I have many a time seen him while 
playing a large fish suddenly recollect himself, lay down 
his rod, look at his watch and solemnly remark: "Exact 
time for medicine, Charley," and after deliberately 
measuring out and swallowing the required quantum 
resume his rod and pull in his fish. 

On the day referred to, when Tom and I were fishing 
in Huntley's Lake, nothing was biting but the perch 
and they were biting furiously. They recalled to my 
memory the novel punishment our old schoolmaster 
used to infiict on us when I attended school as a small 
lad. How the old villain would task his ingenuity in 
this direction! Latin gi-ammar was a stumbling block 
which always tripped me up, my conjugation of the 
verbs being abominable. I would "amo, amas, amat," 
(55) 



56 HUNTLEY'S LAKE, 

etc., until I fairly got sicli of the whole thing and knew 
less at the end than I did at the commencement. "Old 
Pepper," as we boys called our pedagog, Avould set 
some offending boy in a corner, after school hours, and 
selecting some absurd word would compel him to con- 
jugate it in all its Ivuowu and unknown moods and 
tenses. There was an old colored aunty living next 
door to the schoolhouse who did the cleaning, and one 
afternoon (owing to some misbehavior on my part) the 
word masticate was given me by Old Pepper to prac- 
tice the usual grammarian gymnastics upon. For two 
mortal hours I declaimed: "I masticate; thou masti- 
cates; he masticates; she masticates; it masticates;" 
etc. The old darky, coiuiug al(»iig, listciu'd outside tlio 
schoolhouse window to my edifying ranting for about 
twenty minutes, and then lifting her hands in wonder- 
ment, exclaimed loudly: "For de Lawd's sake, wheu- 
eber will dat der boy hab done eatiug?" 

It was the same thing with the perch on the occasion 
of which I am writing. If the old lady had been there 
I am sure she would have lifted her hands and said: 
"For de Lawd's sake, wheueber will dem dere perches 
hab done feeding?" Never before or since have I seen 
perch feed so voraciously, they fairly jumped out of 
the water for our bait. One particularly large perch 
(it must have weighed quite two pounds, and I have 
never seen a larger one), which Tom caught, swallowed 
the hook almost before the bait touched the water. 
Tom was in a hurry to resume fishing, and in attempt- 
ing to disgorge the hook the snell broke off short, leav- 
ing the hook away down in the gullet of the perch. 
Throwing the fisli on one side, Tom remarked: 

"By Jove, Charley, I'll have that all to myself for 
supper to-night," and went on fishing. 

Two hours of such sport satisfied us, and selecting 
about a dozen of the largest fishes, we gave the re- 
mainder to some yoimgsters who were fishing near, 
packed up our traps and went home. 

Mrs. Tom cooked our fishes that evening, and, after 



HUNTLEY'S LAKE. 57 

a very hearty supper, during which Tom had appro- 
priated for his sole beuefit the large perch as he had 
promised he would, we sat down outside the verauda, 
and while Tom's wife did some sewing Tom entertained 
me with small talli on his innumerable ailments. All 
at once, without a moment's warning, Tom bounded 
about six feet into the air, let out a yell that scared 




"i'm a dead man; i've swallowed that FisnnooK" 

everyone within the ward, and approaching me with a 
white, scared face, exclaimed: 

"Charley, I'm a dead man; I've swallowed that fish- 
hook! Oh, what a cussed fool I was to eat that big 
perch!" 

"Stuff and nonsense," I answered, "you couldn't have 
swallowed a No. 4 fishhooli without noticing it." 

"But I did! I did!" he moaned. "Oh, what a miserable 
wretch I am! Thinlf of the agonizing death in store 
for me! Oh, Charley, why didn't you eat that perch 



58 HUNTLEY'S LAKE. 

instead of hayself?" he whined, pathetically; "nothing 

ever hurts you." 

His wife and myself tried to reassure him, telling him 
how utterly preposterous his conduct was, but all to 
no purpose. Tom persisted he had swallowed the fish- 
hook, and as a careful search of the heads and entrails 
of the fishes we had eaten for supper failed to reveal 
the missing hooli, nothing could convince him to the 
contrary. After a little while Tom began to feel a 
severe priclving pain in the abdominal region, which 
gi'adually grew worse and worse, until, at last, about 
two hours after, he was stretched upon a bed with 
three doctors in attendance, and periodically uttering 
the most heartrending shrielis and cries, which he 
averred it was impossible to stop, owing to the pain he 
suffered. The doctors could do nothing, and plainly 
intimated to Tom's wife and myself the only thing the 
matter with their patient was an excessive imagination, 
scouting the idea of his having the hook as perfectly 
ridiculous. 

In about another hour Tom got so bad that I plainly 
saw unless something was done to drive the idea out 
of his head he soon would become a subject for the 
coroner. I called Tom's wife aside, and made her bring 
me Tom's tackle-box. After a search I found an old 
hook of precisely the same size and pattern as the one 
Tom had been using when he caught that unfortunate 
perch in the morning. From this hook I broke oflf the 
snell as near the shank as possible. After some search- 
ing I selected the biggest perch's head I could find, and 
although it was not the head of the big fish he had 
caught in the morning, yet it might pass for it. I 
fixed this hook firmly in the back of its gills, saw that 
everything looked natural, and assuming a joyous ex- 
pression of countenance, burst into the bedroom in 
which Tom lay, now seriously ill, and yelled out in an 
exultant voice: 

"I've found that confounded old fishhook, old fellow; 
you never swallowed it at all, for here it is!" 



HUNTLEY'S LAKE. 



59 




JiUA/T££YS LA/ff 



60 HUNTLEY'S LAKE5. 

Saying this, I held up the perch's gills with the fish- 
hooli firmly embedded therein. Tom gave one IooIj, 
bounded off the bed, seized my prize and examined it 
carefully, the color meanwhile returning to his face. 

"Chai'ley Johnson." he exclaimed, tragically, "you 
have saved my life!" 

Twenty minutes afterward Tom was perfectly re- 
covered and making a hearty meal of tripe and onions, 
and unblushingly I was relating how and where I found 
the missing hook in the fish's head. 

Three days afterward an old Thomas cat, the par- 
ticular pet of Tom's wife, began to visibly pine away, 
and within a week was a mere wreck of skin and 
bones. Shortly afterward it died and Tom, thinking it 
had been poisoned by some of the neighbors, insisted 
on making a post mortem examination on its remains. 
The first incision Tom made revealed to his astonished 
gaze the identical fishhook which was supposed to have 
caused him so much internal turmoil a week previously. 
Really, I couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of the 
situation when Tom, turning slowly round to me, gazed 
with unaffected surprise, and said, solemnly: 

"Charley Johnson, I will never believe you again, sir, 
as long as I live." 

Huntley's Lake is about four miles north and slightly • 
east of Hastings Lalvc, and is reached from Lake Villa 
depot on the Wisconsin Central. 

The lake is deep water off-shore all around. The bar 
shown in the northwest is very slight, and runs to the 
deep hole. Around this hole, during chilly days and 
also late in the season, is the best fishing ground of any. 
The lake contains large bass and pickerel, but during 
the last few years it has been little fished, owing, prob- 
ably, to its being farther away than the other lakes. 

I am convinced a trip to this lake will well repay the 
angler. The best way to reach and fish it is to procure 
a rig and Smith Wright as guide, from the Sand Lake 
Hotel, driving over in the morning and returning in the 
evening. This would give plenty of time for a good 



aUNTLBY'S LAKfi. 61 

day's sport. Smith Wright linows every hole and cor- 
ner of Huntley's Lake, the best places to fish and how 
to fish them. 

There are two kinds of bait casters, the one who 
uses a fine casting line and very light minnow, frog, 
spoon, or whatever the bait may be, without shot or 
weight of any description to assist in casting; the other 
uses a heavy line, big minnow, weighty frog, or other 
bait proportionately heavy. 

The man who casts a light bait is apt to look with 
disdain upon the fellow Avho practices the heavy cast- 
ing tactics, but there are times when heavy bait-casting 
is absolutely essential to successful fishing, particularly 
in lake fishing where weeds are general. The ideal 
fishing of the expert is to make long casts with a small 
frog, light minnow, or spoon, placing the lure before 
the fish with hardly a perceptible splash. In other 
words, fine and far-off fishing. 

This style of angling is necessary to successfully 
fish some Avaters, particularly those where the water 
is abnormally clear and free from weeds; but in many, 
of the lakes of the Fox Lake region the light style 
of bait-casting would be productive of more bites than 
fish. Most of the fishing is done, if not actually in 
the weed patches, still so near that the fishes, when 
they make their runs after seizing the bait, will have 
to be pulled out from them, thus making a strong 
running line absolutely necessary; and to get out a 
stout casting line to any distance a heavy bait is 
imperative. Personally, I always fish as lightly as 
possible, and obtain more true enjoyment from deli- 
cately placing a small frog upon a dock leaf with a 
good long cast, and thence lightly flicking it into the 
water with the slightest splash possible, than from 
any of the heavier methods of casting which I am 
often compelled to pursue. 



C2 



r.AKlO MAnilJ AND lU.Uirp LAKE. 







ClIAl'TER VIII. 

LAKE MARIE AND ULUKF LAKE. SlIELLEISII AND CT.AM 
CHOWDER. THE COLONEL'S IMIOTOGKAI'H. 

The first lime I HsIkhI I.ako Mario was willi my old 
rrieiul, (Je(»rf;e MurrcU. (Icor^o and niysolf had madi* 
a trilling bet a.s (o who wouhl catcli Uu; most hsh. Had 
I beou as well ae<niniiited as 1 am now with tlu; astute 
diplomacy of which Master George is capable, I woidd 
never have gambled with him at all, under any con- 
sideration. However, after fishing all day without a 
bite, the shades of approaching evening found us both 
Ashless and disgusted: 

"Well, old man," I chuckled to myself, "there's one 
consolation; you haven't won, anyliow!" 

I'remature joy on my part! For the crafty rascal 
had deliberately placed a small worm on his liook, and 
coolly dropped it into th(> gaping shell of an unsuspect- 
ing clam that happened to be airing its vitals in a shal- 
low puddle near by! The clam shut up mighty quick 
when it felt the worm, and George hauled it up and 
demanded the bet. I have often thouglit since what a 
fool I was not to find aaother clam and make the bet a 
tie; but, there, I never could tliink of tlie I'iglit tiling to 
do until it was too late. 

Speaking of shellfish reminds me of Tom Jennings. 
There was a fellow in New York who had opened an 
English ale house and shell oyster bar in connection. 
The oysters were opened 'by an attendant and given to 
the patrons on the half-shell. One day Tom Jennings 
strolled into the bar and noticed a Frenclimaii liolding 
a huge half-shell in his hand, staring hard at an 
enormous oyster which lay on it, with an air of wistful 
longing. Tom was always ready to be agreeable, and 
thinking tlie Frenchman was in a quandary, politely 
5 (63) 



64 I.AKIO MAUllO ANI> ItMIKK LAKIO. 

(iiiKKt'Slt'd Hint (lu* i)roiH'r uiiy to «'n( an oyHtor wjih 
to swallow It wlioU'. 'I'lic It'iciichiiian turned roiuul to 
'I'oiii and aHkt'd lilni 11' he could swallow llic ono ho 
held lu hl.s hand. 

"Why, suro thlUKi" mild Tom; and sultliiK the jictlou 
to the word, lu^ took the proffered bivalve, and, with a 
tremendous I'lTort, manaK<'d to Kidp It down. The 
l''renei>man held up his liinids lu iidiiilraliou at lh«> feat, 
and exclaimed. 

"Mon I)i('u! ei es vonderful; ulue times have 1 myself 
et tried to swallow, and et alvays couu's l»aek!'" 

Two ndnutes after Tom had ac(iulred this Informa- 
tion, the oyster a^ain eame Itaek; and Tom, while 
endeavoring to soothe his Insulted stonuieh with some- 
thing warm, swore softly to himself that he would be 
parboiled before he would ever al tempi (o Ix- iiolile to 
n Frenehman aKaln. 

Tom seemed to be uuhi<U.v in Ills fecdiu;^, for it was 
only three weeks before that he had strolled Into a 
lUiwery n>staurant and ordered clam cliowdt>r. After 
he had eaten cpilte a considerable portion, a certain 
qualmish feeling in his stomach warned liljii souu'thlng 
was wrong; so he (ailed tile diiiUy wlio ran tlie phUH', 

and said he: 

"Von black rascal! wliat coiifoiiiidcd liltli have you 
been feeding me ui»onV" 

"Dat dar am clam <lu)\\(ler, sali, and berry good 
chowder, too." 

"Chowder, you dusky villain," answered Tom, his 
gorge rai)ldly rising as he discovered a bunch of fungus 
in the bottom of his iilate, "how long has It been made?" 

"Dat chowder was made last Spring, when 1 resumed 
(lis hyar blsness; and ef de folkses on dis hyar street 
don' »luu eat hyar of'ner, it am lierry likely some ob dat 
chowder will be on lian' nex' Spring!" 

The licking which T(MU lutiicted on that uiifortuiiate 
darky cost Tom forty dollars and costs. 

Ijake Marie and Lake lUuff are reai-lu'd from Aiitiocli 
dt'pot on tlie Wisctuisin ('«'iitral. The two hikes ar«' 



I.AMO MAKIIO AND IILIIK'H' I.AIUH dU 

,|<ilitti<l h,v n tiiiri'ow cliiliiiiol IioiiikIimI oii oiicIi hI(Io by 
nil <>\|)iiiiMi< of tlniillii|i( HtxI. 'riii>r<< Im K<>i><t p<*i'i'li, Iminn 
iiikI itliKt'irl IImIiIiik, 'I'IiIm ImK<- In mi.v iiiikIi <'K|i<)HtMl 
In llir wIimI, iiihI IhiI n hIIkIiI lufo/.o Ik i'(>i|iiIi'i<(I Io 
riiiiho Nli'oiig wiivt'M iiikI II t'lio|)|i,v Hiirriicit. '|<||o iIhIion 
will r<'<Ml III Liih(< l\liii'l<< III i-uiikIi wilier, wlioro llii< miiiiio 
MlirriK'o rdiiilllloliK nil iiinii.v of llMt oltii'i' IiiIiiim would Itit 
I'lilnl i<|Mii'l, \<-l llici'i* Ik III) pliMo ol' wilier In lli<- wlioht 












K'tflnii when* Hue iiiiil fur iilT (ImIiIiik Im liti iiereniiiii'.v l<» 
Heeiire II ({noil eilleli HM III IdiUe Miii'le. 

'I'lie liihe for iiiiiiiy yenrH piihl Iiiih I ii n itiirlteiilnrly 

rnvorlle reiiorl Tor Hie iiiii^ler, iiiid iiIIIioiihIi Hie IthlieN 
lire I'lilrly lileiilll'iil llie.y are exlreiiiel,v hIi.v niiil liiinl In 
I'tllell. 'I'Ih* preHiiliee ol' ii lioni, lililloiiiieeil \>y Hie dip 
of Hie NeiillH, will eiiiiNe eyer.y MhIi wIHiIii ii liiiiiijred mid 
liri.v feel Io liciiri'.v Tor hlieller, lllld Hie only inelliod ol' 
lippi'oiiclilnij; Hiein vvlHi liny mIiow of HiieeeMN Im \ty 



66 LAKE MARIE AND BLUFF LAKE. 

drifting in a boat, using fine taclvle and making long 
casts, casting a minnow in tlie more open stretclies of 
water and frogs for evening fishing in tlie lily pads. 
There are several hotels in the immediate vicinity of 
the lake, most of which send buses to meet the trains 
at Antioch. There are plenty of boats, but the angler 
had better take his own bait as the supply at the hotels 
is uncertain. 

Even to an experienced angler Lake Marie would 
prove a deceiving piece of w^ater. There is so much 
apparently good fishing ground, bearing those unmis- 
takable fishy signs by which likely spots are ordinarily 
located— in the shape of bass and pickerel weeds, lily 
pads, with favorable formations of bottom and re- 
quired depth of w^ater— that unless a man is thoroughly 
posted or knows the Avater he can waste much valua- 
ble time in fishing those spots which, although of an 
inviting aspect, are barren of fish. 

The points marked on the chart are the best spots to 
fish; and where the angler's time is limited he will find 
it best to fish one of these points, and thence row to 
another without wasting time on the intervening 
stretches of water. The best bass ground is at those 
spots marked A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The largest 
fishes are generally caught in the bass weeds and 
rushes of the deepish stretch of water at 0, and the 
spots B and G are exceptionally fine yielding pieces of 
water for bass. 

The pickerel hole just outside the channel is the best 
spot of any in the lake for pickerel. Both sides of the 
channel leading into Grass Lake are favorite resorts for 
pickerel also, particularly at those spots where weed 
beds and rush patches are found in the middle of the 
channel. 

I recollect some four years ago fishing this channel 
with Colonel Budd of San Francisco. We caught 
seventeen pickerel, all good-sized fishes. The Colonel 
photographed them, hanging the fishes up in a row by 



LAKE MARIE AND BLUFF LAKE. 67 

their gills, with myself in the picture; but owiug to the 
position in which I stood the fishes looked twice as 
large as I did. 

I recollect another picture, which the Colonel took 
with his camera once in Idaho, two years ago. There 
were tliree of us in the party— the Colonel, Judge Mere- 
dith and myself. We were on a trout fishing trip on 
the Snake River. The Colonel never traveled witliout 
his camera, for he was a regular kodak fiend and missed 
no opportunity of getting a snap shot at anything that 
struck his fancy. 

We were staying at Squire Mattson's house, one of 
the finest residences in the state. One morning just 
after breakfast all of us, including the Squire, were 
lounging and smoking outside the front of the house 
discussing plans for the day's sport, when a procession 
hove in sight that made us all wonder what in the woi'ld 
it could be. It consisted of an old, mop-haired granger 
and his wife— a thin, hatchet-faced, sour-visaged female 
in a bunchy calico gown— with seven children, the 
youngest about three, the eldest apparently nine, with 
a year's difference in the age of each, coming down the 
road, ranged symmetrically according to size and look- 
ing like an animated stairway of seA^en steps. The 
party stopped when the family reached us, and the old 
man, after gazing admiringly around, said to his wife: 

"Mighty purty looking place, ain't it, MariahV 

His wife, who was evidently out of temper, snapped 
out some ansAver, and addressing the bunch of small 
fry, told them that if their Pap wasn't such a doggoned 
lazy ignoramus they could all be living in a better house 
themselves: 

"Say, Mariah," the old man continued, without taking 
the least notice of his wife's slanderous speech, 
"wouldn't your old Pap down East be mighty tickled 
to see you and me living in a swell place like this? 
Why, here's one of them picture taker fellows," he 
went on, as he espied the Colonel's camera standing 



68 LAKE MARIE AND BLUFF LAKE. 

by the gate. "Say, mister, how much would you charge 
to take us all iu first-class, baug-up style, just like 
Benny Burton had took last Fall to send down South to 
a gal he was kind of hankering to got hitched to?" 

The Colonel entered into the humor of the thing, and 
offered to give them a picture for nothing. 

"Jee whiz!" the old chap said; "that's real good of 
you, and say, Mariah," he added, turning to his wife, 
"we'll be took right here, and send the pictur away 
back East to yer old Pap, and he'll surely show it to 
the neighbors and they'll thinli as how the house be- 
longs to us and we are right smart fixed!" 

His wife, who commenced to take some interest in 
the proceedings at this stage, began to fix her hair and 
tidy the youngsters. They were certainly the merriest, 
healthiest and dirtiest looking lot of little urchins I 
have ever seen. 

"I'll tell you what we'll do," the Squire remarked to 
me; "Ave'll fix the whole crowd up in style, and give the 
old fellow a chance to ring in the biggest bluff of his 
life on his folkes away back East." 

Saying this, Mattson went into the house and shortly 
returned with a plug hat, frock coat, and some female 
finery which, although slightly the worse for wear, was 
good enougli for the purpose. With these in his hand 
he escorted tlie Avhole crowd to the barn, took them in, 
and telling them to rig themselves out, left them. About 
ten minutes afterward the old fellow and his wife, with 
the children, made their appearance, the children 
gazing with open-mouthed awe on their transmogrified 
parents. 

"Say, Squire," the old man remarked, "this is real 
good of you to cotton to us in this fashion; durn me ef 
I don't feel as ef I ain't sole proprietor of everything 
on the place." 

Mattson got out his best gig, mounted his driver on 
the box, the couple took their places with the kids ar- 
ranged according to their age in the front, and the 



LAKE MARIE AND BLUFF LAKE. 69 

Colonel took the picture. The old man told us they 
lived on a small ranch about seven miles up the river. 
He and his wife had settled there about twelve years 
previously, and with the exception of the large family 
of youngsters they were as poor as when they came. 
Tlie Colonel promised to send them the picture when it 
was finished, and after disrobing themselves of the 
borrowed finery away they went. 

About five weeks afterward I was walking down the 
main street of the little town six miles from the 
Squire's house, when I came across the old man driving 
a pair of dilapidated mules with an old broken wagon 
attached. He stopped at once when I hailed him. 

"Well, old chap," I said, "how did the photograph 
come out?" 

"Gol darn the pictur, anyway," he answered, testily; 
"Mariah and I sent it to her Pap, with a letter saying 
as how we had more stock and land than we knew 
what to do with, and money to burn, thinking it would 
kind of make Mariah's folks think how smart we wus; 
and threw in a hint that in writing back they ought to 
address the letter to Squire Gawk instead of calling me 
plain Jimmy Gawk as they was used to. Sure enough, 
Mariah's Pap writ back, and said as how now we was 
so well fixed he would leave the farm to Mariah's 
brother Tom; and that Mariah's old Uncle Abe, who had 
died three days after he received our letter, had altered 
his will directly he saw it and left as fine a section of 
grazing land as could be found in the state to Mariah's 
seventh cousin, sayin' he guessed we Mouldn't need it, 
anyhow. And there's a hull pile of my old neighbors 
wrote to tell me they're all coming on here, and looks 
to me to stake 'em until they gets fixed, sayin' that ef 
an old galoot like me can get so well fixed as I am 
they reckon they'll be runnin' for gov'nor before they've 
been here six months. And the worst of it is, that 
since the news has came, there's no livin' with Mariah, 
she's so pesterful and mean and, of course, M'oman- 
like, lays all the blame on me. Well, well," the old man 



70 l.AKiO MAIM 10 AND IthllFF LAKIO. 

siiid, moodily, Jis ho drovo invay, "I f;"oss everyone 
ir.akes ii dojijjjoned Jiss of himself somelime or another; 
but of nil the ornerest, softest, bedrock old jaybirds 
that ever was, that indoovidual is myself!"' 



CHAPTER IX. 

FIRST OR gage's LAKE. AN EMBARRASING POSITION, 
THE INCIDENT OF AN IRON POT. 

I have beeu in several embarrassing positions in my 
life. Once when a young man just emerging from my 
teens, while bathing in what I considered a sufficiently 
sequestered spot to insure perfect privacy, a young 
lady came along and sat down on the rock under 
which my clothes were concealed. She had a novel 
which she commenced to read, and the woi"k must 
have been of absorbing interest, for she read for fully 
half an hour without any signs of letting up or mov- 
ing on. Meanwhile I had taken refuge in a rush bed, 
about fifty yards away, from which I was anxiously 
awaiting her exit. The water was cold and I was at 
last in sheer desperation obliged to acquaint her with 
the fact of my presence. She was a young lady of 
quick discernment, for grasping the situation in an 
instant, simultaneously with the piercing shriek which 
evidenced her discovery of my proximity she vacated 
the spot with the celerity of a frightened hare. 

Another time, when doing the fatherly act at Pudgy 
Stickel's wedding, I was chosen as the most proper 
person to donate the bride (pretty little Arabella Wil- 
kins) to my old friend Pudgy. Things got so mixed 
up that the ceremony was all but performed before 
it was discovered that, instead of giving the bride 
away, I had been mistaken by the purblind old parson 
who performed the ceremony for the bridegroom, and 
was receiving her instead. However, things were set 
right at the last moment, and Pudgy — who was un- 
earthed from behind a pew in a complete state of 
nervous prostration— was put in my place and received 
his bride with the last line of the marriage service. 

(71) 



72 FIUST Oil GAGE'S LAKE. 

These are but two of the many times in which I 
have been wliat a society person would call "de trop," 
but the Avorst of all was an incident tliat liappened 
to me at (Jage's Lalce last year. I was experimenting 
with the fly when a young lady came along, and before 
I was aware of it I had caught her securely in the leg 
with a No. 4-0 Joliuson Fancy bass fly. Poor little 
thing! She sat down and boohooed and sobbed as 
though her heart would break, beseeching me in one 
breatli to talvc Uie horrid tiling away, and immediately 
afterward indignantly repelling me when 1 offered to 
take her at her word. 

Eventually we compromised, 1 breaking off the leader 
and escorting the badly scared and half fainting little 
miss to the hotel; whence, having delivered her over 
to the care of tlie landlady, I made an ignominious 
sneak for home. 

First or (iage's Lake is not to be found on the or- 
dinary maps whicli are supposed to contain the lakes 
of the lake region. It is located half a mile south 
and slightly east of Second Lake, and is reached from 
Gray's Lake Station on the Wisconsin Central. There 
is good bass and pickerel fishing to be had in these 
waters, providing tlie weather is favorable. But it's 
all or none, when lishing (Jage's Lake; in fact, of all 
tlie lakes I know tliere is none whicli is so uncertain 
in regard to sport. 

My experience of Gage's Lake is that minnows are 
the best all-round bait that can be used. The water 
just outside the lily pads on the northern point is 
one of the best spots for evening fishing on the lake. 
Nearer in-shore on the spot marked A is the best bass 
ground during the colder moutlis, and just outside the 
fringe of bass weeds is good pickerel water at all 
times. The extreme northern point is also fine holding 
ground for bass, and also the spot marked halfway 
across on the west shore. 

One of the most remai'kable sights I have ever wit- 



FIRST OR GAGE'S LAKE. 73 

nessed happened while fishing Gage's Lake this Sun»- 
iner. Smith Wright, of Sand Lake Hotel; Mr. Charles 
Hamilton, of Chicago, and myself wei'e In the boat 
together, Mr. Hamilton rowing, Wright and myself 
casting, using minnows as bait. We came across a small 




o/i. 



G/IG£6 lA/ff 



pocket within the rushes where the water at no place 
exceeded nine Inches in depth. The appearance of this 
spot indicated bass, and Hamilton placed the boat, 
with scarcely a perceptible ripple to disturb the water 
in the vicinity, in the most favorable position to com- 
mand it with our casting rods, about eighty feet away. 



74 . FIRST OK GACJIO'S LAKE. 

Wriffht made the first cast, and simultaneously witli 
his minnow lijiiitly reachins? the surface four bi.n' Imss, 
from as many different corners, dashed to the center 
of the pool in a mad race for the minnow. The lucky 
winner of the race, or rather the luilucky one as it 
turned out subsequently, had no sooner seized the bait 
than he protruded his head juid shoulders fully one- 
third of his length from out the water and commenced 
to gulp the miuuow down, while the other three bass 
literally climbed over him in their frantic efforts to 
take the minnow away from him. We plainly saw 
the whole proceeding and Wright giving him but little 
time for deliberation struck, and as the surroundings 
admitted of no delay laid his rod down and by the 
aid of the line yanked him away from his quarrel- 
some companions, and had him in the boat before 
he could realize what had happened to him. 

I made the next cast and the same scene was re- 
peated with three bass, instead of four, the lishes, 
owing to tlie sliglit doptli of water and the stillness 
of the surface, making a wake like that of a muskrat 
swimming across. This fish I hooked and he also 
came in hand over hand. 

Wright made another cast, and the two remaining 
bass went for his minnow. He hooked one, but at 
the last minute lost him. Again I tried the remaining 
bass with a frog, which one took and after hooking 
him I lost him in just the same manner that Wright 
had the previous one. The two bass we had captured 
weighed four and a half pounds and five pounds, 
respectively, the larger one falling to Wright's rod. 

This day's fishing was an eventful one, for shortly 
afterward, when making a cast in rather deepish 
water, my hook befouled something and after about 
fifteen minutes' patit'Ut wriggling and judicious pull- 
ing we unearthed from the bottom a small iron pot — 
lieavens knows how many years it had been buried 
there — with my hook firmly fixed in the curl of the 



FIRST OR GAGE'S LAKE. 75 

handle. However, there were no I'are old coins in it or 
valuables of any description, only some mud and shells, 
and we threw it back again to bother some other 
fisherman later. 

Spealcing of iron pots reminds me of the last time I 
visited Ireland, three years ago, when Billy Jackson 
and myself found ourselves in a little shebang near 
Kilmacrean, in North Donegal. We met four English 
tourists on the same errand as ourselves— trout fishing 
in the neigliboring burns. We spent a most convivial 
evening togetlier, and during the early part of it, as 
the company had been at a loss for a spittoon as the 
Britishers called it, Billy had slipped out into the kitchen 
and surreptitiously brought in a large iron pot; and into 
this improvised cuspidor the entire crowd had during 
the evening paid ample tribute. Just before going to 
bed, Billy called me on one side and warned me not 
to eat any of the chickens which would probably appear 
at the breakfast table in tlie morning, as he had seen 
the hired girl while picking them about equally divid- 
ing her attention between the fowls and her olfactory 
organ. So we made up our minds to stick to plain 
potatoes, and the next morning made our breakfast 
solely on the contents of the huge coUander of jacketed 
Murphies which graced the center of the board. The 
potatoes appeared to me at the time of eating to have 
a smoky flavor, and to be of a rather darker hue than 
usual. 

Breakfast finished we retired into the little red- 
curtained parlor at the back, for a smoke preparatory 
to setting out for the day's fishing. Billy looked for 
our cuspidor of the previous night; and at last, not 
seeing it, he asked the red-haired Irish servant wench 
what had become of it. 

"Sure, an' is it the big iron pot ye be afther?" she 
queried. Billy nodded. 

"Well, it's just outside now," she said, "an' afther 
bein' hardly cooled since cukin' the praties ye ait for 
breakfasht this mornin,!" 



7fl 



<:iii'r'nt;Ni»itiN ani> i>imi(!Io i-akioh. 




CHAPTER X. 

CHITTENDKN AND DRIUK I.AKl.S. SANI»V M'(;kKF,'S 
h.l'.l, I'll:. 

A I'rloud of iniue, a Mr. CJeorgo Wallace of (Jlilciigo, 
told me last week that be took a silver eel \velt,'lii»K 
about three pounds from Chitteudeii Lake last July. 
Ills catch was somewhat unique, for I have since asked 
iimiiy iUiKlers who li:ive lislied the lakes for years 
whether they liave ever seen or ciiuKht an eel in its 
waters, and tlielr answer invarial)ly lias been: "No." 

It is slniuKe tliat eels are not found in v;reat numbers 
In these lakes. lOverythinj? is rjiv()i!il)le liw their (ixisL- 
ence— plenty of feed, a muddy bottom in wiilch to 
secrete themselves during the colder months, and 
gravelly shallows in which to scour at nights for food. 
Added to this tlie eel Is a most delicious eating llsli, 
liropjigatcs very rnpidiy, Jiiid will travel long dislances 
at nlglit through the wet gniss from one piece of water 
to another. 

Speaking of eels reminds me of tiie time wh(!n I was 
in Edinburgh, Sc-otiand, some ten years ago. I was stay- 
ing with a Scotch friend who liad undertaken to escort 
me around and show me the sigiits. He turned round 
to me one evening. Just as we were coming out of 
tli(> tlieater, and wltii that solemn air of dlsi)roi)or- 
tlomite gravity wKh wlil<-li oidy a Scotchman can i)ro- 
pound some trilling query, said: 

"Mou, ha' ye ever eaten oni^ o' Sandy Mcdree's liot 
eel plesV" 

"An eel pie," 1 answered; "what the deuce is an eel 
pie?" 

"An eel pie," my friend asserted, "Is the most luscious 
and delicious coinbiiiatlon (»' jtastry and lisli ye ever 
tasl('<l! (Jang along and we'll l)altli buy one?." 
(77) 



78 Gil IT'l'KN DION ANI> DUUCIO LAKICS. 

Snyinj? this, lie soizcd my ;iriii and hurried ine through 
several tori nous small passaj^'es and l>y-streets until 
at last lie slopped at the entrance of a small, dismal- 
lookinj^ slio]), li^^hled by an oil lamp. Into tliis shop we 
went and an old, slu'iveled-up si)ecimen of humanity, 
whom my e<in(lu('lor addressed as Sandy, dived his 
hands into a tin rescmblij? a hot toniale can and pro- 
duced two small double-crusted pies, whicli he handed 
over to us iu exchange for a fourponny bit. 

"Wait until we got on the 'bus," my friend said, 
"and we'll eat them." 

A few moments after we had clind)ed to the top of 
one of the many double-decked buses at tlie corner 
of a badly-li;;lile(l tliorouKhfar(> tliron;;ed with peoiile 
anxious to get liome for the niglit. The seat I occupied 
overlooiu'd the street and the pie in my baud certainly 
smelted so b^mplin;;-, if the gravy which was dripping 
from it was any criterion, tliat 1 prepared to eat It. 
The pastry was a soft, doughy pie evidently sonu^what 
underdone. As I raised it to my month and prei)ared to 
take the first bite, a tall, well-dre8se<l ycotchman stand- 
lug directly umlerneath me looked up to hail our 
driver, and at the same instant the hot juice from the 
interior of the pie burst forth and scalded my lingers 
so baiUy lliat involuntarily 1 let il drop. Tliat eel pie 
landed siinarely on the tall gentleman's upturned 
visage, bespattering him with tlie almost boiling con- 
tents. 

The snrprised look he wore when llie pie struck lum 
was followed by sui-Ii an intermingled torrent of horri- 
bly anguishing liowls and Seotcli iirofanity tliat the 
whole neigliborhood was aronsrd. 'I'wo policemen 
hurried up, but before he could wipe his face sulli- 
ci( ntly clean and collect himself to exphiiu, the driver— 
who was unconscious of my escapade -whipped up his 
horses and we were hurried away; for which it is 
needless to say 1 was i)rofoundly thaidcful. My friend, 
after devouring his pie in silence and wiping his 
wiiiskers, simply turned and coolly reuuirked: 



CHITTENDEN AND DRUCB LAKES. 79 

"Eh, uion! it's a great peety ye wasted your pie; it's 
four bawbees dean gone. But, if tliat cliiel liad only 
caught ye wouldn't he have given ye fits'?" 

Clutteudeu and Druce lalces are about a mile in a 
southeasterly direction from Fourth or Miltluiore Lake. 
They are reached from Kollins Depot on the Wisconsin 
Central. Plenty of buses and conveyances meet the 
trains, and an abundant supply of boats will be found 
on the lakes. A good point to start from is the Mallory 
Hotel on Druce Lake, rowing from the landing below 
the house, following the shore northward and around 
the lake until the channel is reached which leads into 
Third Lake. The waterway between the two lakes 
is generally dry in the Sunuuer, necessitating a portage 
of about a hundred yards, hence it is advisable to take 
the lighest boat that can be obtained. The north shore, 
just outside the rush bed, is good bass fishing right 
into the mouth of the channel. The best pickerel 
ground is just off the deep water, outside the rushes, 
on the east side of the lake, south of the hotel. There 
is also some good bass water in the rushes south of 
the channel. 

Starting into Chittenden Lake from the channel, it 
is as well to row south to the end of the shallow blank 
bottom, which stretches some distance inshore, until 
the deepish water and bass weeds in the southern 
portion are reached. At this point there is some 
splendid fishing ground, bass and pickerel being ex- 
tremely plentiful. Minnows are the best bait that can 
be used. From there on down to the outlet, on the 
extreme southern end of the lake, is the best ground 
in the lake during chilly weather. Try the bass weeds 
in the deepish water, and if not successful there try 
within the rush lines. Sometimes the fishes will lie 
farther out than at others, and a hundred ^'eet nearer 
in or fartlier out from shore will make much difference 
to the angler. Proceeding in a northwesterly direc- 
tion, a long stretch of rushes will be found extending 
quite a distance from the shore, with moss and silk 



so (JIIITTIONDKN AND DRUCE LAKES. 

weeds undcriirowth in the shallower water inshore and 
bass wetHls in tlie deeper stretches, dotted here and 
tliere witli patelies of pielcerel weeds. This is fairly- 
good bass ground, but unless tlie angler has plenty 
of time before him it will liardly pay him to linger and 
llsh it, but rather to go fartiier north until he finds the 
rush line diminishes in distance from the shore with 
deeper water and bass weeds on its margin. 

In the nortliwostern corner is tlie inlet from Fourth 
Ijake, and from tliere on all around the north shore 
is as good piclverel and bass ground as a man could 
wisli for. Wlien fisliing among tlie lily pads in the 
nortlnvestcrly point of tlie Fourtli Lalvo outlet, at even- 
ing, frogs will be found far i)i'eferable to minnows. 



CHAPTER XI. 

LONG LAKE. A LESSON IN BAITCASTING. TOBY SNUF- 
FLES AND THE LITTLE SCHOOL MARM. UP 
TO DATE BARBERING. 

Once on a time, when I did not know any better, 
I offered to initiate a friend of mine into the myste- 
ries of bait-casting. He was an alderman, and as 
I was depending upon his influence to obtain a gov- 
ernment position for a distant and aged relation, 
namely, that of scrub lady in the county dog pound, 
I felt I could ill afford to jeopardize her future pros- 
pects by being anything else than innneasui'ably cor- 
dial and blind to any (luestiouable conduct of which 
he might be guilty. Beyond saying my pupil was a 
genial, good-natured, fat man, I will not further dis- 
close his identity. 

We selected Long Lake as the scene of our opera- 
tions, and at the end of three hours he had so far 
advanced as to occasionally make a cast without im- 
paling one or another of those odd portions of my 
anatomy which everlastingly appeared to get in the 
l>ath of his hook. My ohvh in particular appeared to 
bother him, for it seemed an utter impossibility for 
him to make three consecutive casts Avithout stick- 
ing his hook into one of them. In fact, whenever he 
missed his hook, it got to be the recognized thing to 
search my ears before looking further. 

However tlie lesson was over at last, and together 
we came ashore; he jubilant at his proficiency, and 
I mentally calculating the time which would have to 
elapse before the ragged edges of my ears would cease 
to resemble a broken mushroom. 

The amount of dodging I was forced to keep up 
during this trip reminded me of my first sweetheart; 
(SI) 



82 LONG LAKE 

and the difficulties I encountered when courting her. 
She was a demure little schoolma'am, as pretty as a 
peach, just seventeen years old, and the eldest of 
a family of sixteen brothers and sisters, all of whom 
had come into the world with unfailing annual reg- 
ularity. Her ma and pa were great people for fried 
chicken, and it was their practice to let the seven 
or eight younger members of the family lie around 
the floor, gnawing a greasy drumsticli or dirty wing 
bone to keep them quiet until their turn came at the 
table. Whenever I visited my chai-mer these kids 
were the teiTor of my life; for it is needless to state 
I always wore my best Sunday clothes, and it can 
macy was required to keep my trousers unspotted 
and pet the youngsters at the same time. The chil- 
dren were of an affectionate disposition, very fond 
of me, and used to select my knees as the vantage 
ground on which to discover hidden morsels of gristly 
sweetness. 

I confided my troubles to a particular chum of mine, 
one Toby Snuffles by name, and he generously offered 
to keep me company, wearing a suit for the occa- 
sion, and to amuse the kids while I talked sweet 
nothings to my inamorata. He was a chuckle-headed, 
pan-faced and most uninteresting individual, entirely 
lacking in the refined disposition and intellectual at- 
tainments which I possessed; yet, strange to say, on 
his first appearance the young lady treated my fur- 
ther attentions with cold disdain, and before the even- 
ing was fairly over had unblushingly appointed my 
rival as her future daily escort from the schoolhouse 
to her home. Toby eventually married her. He was 
a gardener by occupation, wox'king at Squire Brown's. 
The Squire was a noted horticulturist and most of 
Toby's work was on the Squire's flower beds. 

When Toby asked the old man's consent to marry 
his daughter, he made up his mind to attempt it in 
a neat little figurative speech of his own, and getting 
tbe old man into a merry mood one evening, took the 



LONG LAKE 



S3 



little sehoolma'am by the hand, and stepping boldly 
up to the old gentleman asked his permission to trans- 
fer his daughter from the parental bed into his own. 
The old man surveyed the embarrassed couple for a 
few moments, in thoughtful silence, and then said: 

"Well, young man, I have no objection provided you 
marry her first." 

Long Lake is best reached from the Lake Villa depot 
on the Wisconsin Central. It is an excellent fishing 
lake, and in my estimation ranks next to Fourth or 
Miltimore Lake. Some of the groimd in the south- 




lO/\/G IM^ 



east corner is exceptionally fine and contains very 
large bass; in fact, it is no unusual thing for an angler 
to catch a string of a dozen fine bass weighing from 
two to four pounds each. But this kind of work is 
usually the result of expert bait-casting, for there is 
no lake in the whole chain where the novice or bungler 
is more apt to meet with disappointment than at 
Long Lake. In this respect it is somewhat similar 
to Lake Marie. Either a good surface ripple is re- 
quired to obscure the keen vision of the fishes, or 
extremely fine and far-off casting is requisite to catch 
the larger ones. 

Of course, all my observations are intended to apply 
to large fishes only, or, in angler's parlance, "sizable 



84 LONG LAKE. 

fish." Any bungler can catch small ones, hence I con- 
sider them unworthy a good angler's notice, and as such 
I do not include them in my comments beyond stating 
that I have always found small game fish extremely 
erratic in disposition, eagerly seizing anything edible 
without regard to time or place. In fact, similar to 
all smaller members of any family — fishy or otherwise 
—unformed in character, consequently irregular in 
behavior and possessing no settled habits from which 
to deduce data of value. 

The best evening fishing during the hotter months 
of the year is among the lily pads on the western 
shore, north of Graliam's Hotel, using a medium-sized 
frog as bait. There is no better water in the lake 
for good all-i*ound pickerel fishing than that on the 
southern shore, in the deepish water just outside the 
fringe of bass weeds. There is excellent bass ground 
in the water just outside the rush line on the eastern 
shore; fishing the various depths of water according 
to the temperature — on a warm day in the rushes and 
on a chilly day in the deeper water. 

I used to fish Long Lake with old Peter Quincy. 
Peter used to row me, and probably he knew more fishy 
spots in the lake than any other man living; in fact, 
it was entirely owing to his good generalship that I 
used to make the big catches I did. In his younger 
days Peter had followed barbering, and away back 
in the fifties found himself in a small Western min- 
ing town whei'e, while being shaved in the principal 
barber's shop of the place, the eternal loquacity of 
the man who shaved him caused him to think that 
a deaf and dumb barbering establislimeut— with a 
few otlier needful modificatioins— would prove a paying 
venture. 

Within a week he had carried his idea into exe- 
cution, and his employes, in consideration of extra 
salary, were solemnly sworn to converse only in the deaf 
and dumb alphabet, and under no consideration what- 
ever to speak a word to the customers. Peter him- 



LONG LAKE. 85 

self followed the same line of conduct and placed 
a large placard in the window bearing the following 
announcement: 

ALL OUR EMPLOYES ARE DEAF AND DUMB, 
: EAT BAKERY LUNCHES. : 

i AND HAVE WARM HANDS. j 

Within three weelis he had closed up every other 
barber's shop in the town, and was on the road to 
accumulate a rapid fortune, when one day an old, 
seedy-lookiug pothouse bum, possessing a flow of ar- 
gumentative discourse on the then political question 
of the day Avhich nothing short of a dynamite bomb 
could destroy, sat down in his chair and began to 
belabor the opposite party— to which Peter belonged— 
in such a torrent of unearthly profanity and biting 
sarcasm that Peter, unable to stand it any longer, 
clean forgot he was supposed to be deaf and dumb 
and talked back. 

A stormy argument followed, in which his employes 
and a crowd of citizens took part. The shop was 
dismantled and wrecked, and it was only the oppor- 
tune aiTival of the entire i>olice foi'ce of the town 
which prevented bloodshed. At the finish just be- 
fore he surrendered himself into the hands of the big 
constable who arrested him, Peter thoughtfully kicked 
over a naphtha lamp which happened to be burning on 
the counter, and within three minutes the shop was 
in ashes. 

Two weeks afterward Peter collected his insurance 
and came back East. 



86 



ROUND LAKE. 




KOUND LAKE 



CHAPTER XII. 

ROUND LAKE. A QUEER ADVERTISEMENT AND A 
TROUBLESOME CANINE. 

In looking over the advertising columns of a daily 
paper some few weeks ago, the following advertisement 
caught my eye: "The advertiser wishes to meet with 
a staid, cheerful gentleman of sporting proclivities, one 
who uses no profanity, tobacco or liquor and is fond 
of prayer." 

This advertisement seemed to read somewhat un- 
canny. I could understand a quiet, elderly, old fishing 
crank of stax'chy habits preferring for his fishing chum 
a man who neither drank, swore nor smoked; but why 
he wished to associate with a person fond of prayer I 
could not imagine. My curiosity was such that I was 
obliged to correspond with the writer of the advertise- 
ment. I wrote him a polite letter stating that although 
forty years of age I had never yet indulged in any of the 
reprehensible practices referred to in his advertisement, 
begging him to communicate his reasons for such a pe- 
culiar request and explain fully the tenor of the case. 

Two weeks afterward I received the following letter 
from a gentleman signing himself Rev. Nolly Meekum, 
and mailed from a little town in Texas: 

"My Dear Mr. Johnson:— Your curiosity is very laud- 
able, and I trust in this case applicable, but I have a 
brother whom I regret to state must positively take a 
fishing trip by the doctor's orders, for the benefit of 
his health, otherwise he will soon die. Now here comes 
the troublesome part of .the whole business. My brother, 
who used to chew tobacco, now eats it; in place of the 
former slow process of imbibing liquor from a drink- 
ing glass, he now employs a funnel; and his profanity 
is such that the intensity of his expletives often en- 
(87) 



88 ROUND LAKE. 

dangers thoracic apoplexy; and I am sorely afraid that 
if the arch enemy of mankind ever finds him in the 
■woods all alone, without the intervening px'otection of 
some Christian person capable of averting such a calam- 
ity by powerful prayer, he would never return alive. 
"Yours vei'y truly, 

"Nolly Meekum, T. D." 

I wrote back to Mr. Meekum and respectfully de- 
clined to consider his proposal, at the same time stat- 
ing that although I sympathized with him I was afraid 
if the gentleman he referred to was to find his brother 
and myself alone together in the woods, the said gen- 
tleman might make a mistake and take the wrong one, 
and I did not care to take any chances. 

My oldest fishing friend, George Barker, possesses a 
lean, crafty-looking nondescript dog, and one day this 
Summer, when we were about to start on a fishing 
trip together on Round Lake, George pleaded so hard 
for the dog to come that I weakly consented. The dog's 
name was Tiddler, and a worse canine abomination I 
do not believed ever lived. He showed at once by 
his attitude he considered me an individual antagonistic 
to his master, and as such to be carefully loked after, 
and it was only after an amount of pummeling and 
licking on the part of George sufficient to have laid 
any respectable dog cold, that he could be persuaded 
I was neither a bone nor a dog biscuit imported for 
his special delectation. 

We were on the lake three hours, and they were three 
of the weariest hours I ever spent in my life. The 
capture of our first pickerel— a fish of about seven 
pounds in weight — caused %uch a manifestation of in- 
quisitive interest in Tiddler, that his long, lank noz- 
zle was well into the pickerel's smiling countenance 
before we could prevent it, and -then the frightful, un- 
earthly ki-kowing which followed was only ended by 
Tiddler in desperation jumping into the lake, carry- 
ing the pickerel with him. The fish on feeling the 
water relaxed his hold immediately, and Tiddler— all 



ROUND LAKE. 89 

dripping wet— was assisted by his master into the boat 
again. 

By the vindictive leer with which Tiddler favored 
me when he made his reappearance, I could plainly see 
he blamed me for the whole occurrence. Shortly after- 
ward I caught an immense perch, and Tiddler— who 
had been cogitating on the advisability of a nap after 
his bath— thumped himself bodily down on the perch 
just as that fish was erecting the bristling spikes of 
his dorsal fin in indignation at being so unceremoni- 
ously hauled from his native element. That time Tid- 
dler got it literally in the neck, and a second edition 
of agonizing ki-kowing, variegated by howls and gar- 
nished by canine cursing, followed, until a fisherman 
on the shore a mile distant protested at our apparent 
cruelty. 

In fact, I never saw another dog Avho possesed the re- 
markable faculty of getting into trouble that Tiddler did. 
He was seasick, or rather lake sick, and no sooner had 
his stomach recovered its proper equilibrium than he 
was in hot water again. In fact, such a nuisance did 
he become that we were obliged to leave off fishing 
and adjourn to the shore. 

Round Lake is a splendid piece of fishing water, and 
is located about two miles from Gray's Lake Depot, on 
the Wisconsin Central. Minnows are the best all-round 
bait which can be used. These the angler should pro- 
vide, as the supply on the ground is uncertain. 

Starting from Sam Litwilder's boathouse, the best 
plan is to row directly to the bass ground marked on 
the southeast point, working well in-shore among the 
rushes, and if unsuccessful there then try the bass 
weeds further out, and thence to the bass pocket on 
the southwest corner just inside the point. The other 
two bass pockets on the west shore should then be 
visited, and unless some success has been met with 
at this stage the angler may feel certain that the bass 
are lying in the deeper water; and he cannot do bet- 
ter than to take the lake all around, fishing in the deeper 



90 KOllNU LAKIO. 

w.'ilt'i" on tho oxtroine od;?i'S of (lie bass woods. Whih' 
(isliiii^ in this nianiior lio should row up as^ainst tho 
wind, and tluMi drift back ovor the ground. In fact, 
on every occasion that offers, Avork ovor your lishing 
water with the aid of the wind, if possible, for it is the 
sculls— clumsily luanipulatod in the water— which ac- 
count in many instances I'or tlie sparsonoss of an 
angler's catch. 

The best pickerel ground is just off tho oast side of 
the sandl)ar adjoining tli(> dooj) water. There is also 
oxcolh'Ut Irolling giound f(U- pickerel on the edges of 
the bass woods on the western side, and my own ex- 
perience has proved that on (his ground a spoou is 
preferable during that period of the season when the 
water is clearing from tho annual visitation of algfc. 

There is one particular fish of whicli the pot-lislieruian, 
with his heavy rough tackle, (hick ])olo and inartistic 
method of using it, can almost claim a monopoly in its 
capluiv, and (hat is the big i)ickorel. It is generally 
(lie follow with a big bob and a sirong line that catches 
(hose big follows. Let a man aiiclior a lioat in a fairly 
deepish stretch of weedy-bottomed water, and dangle 
a big lively chub in close proximity and patiently wait, 
and it is only a question of time until his pickerelship 
will come along and grab it. 'I'hou there is no wait- 
ing, for directly the big bob disaiipoars the rod is seized, 
and l>(>fore the astonished lisli is aware of what has 
liappoiKMl lie is yanked, "nolens volons," into tlie boat. 

Tiiis kind of angling is too tame for the man with 
any (rue bred angling ins(inct. He cannot bring his 
mind to such coarse and summary methods. He uses 
a lino line, a light casting rcKl, and endeavors to sui>- 
ply the lack of strength in his tackle with skill in 
its use; but all tho skill in (he world is inade(iuate 
(o cope with a largo, powerful lisli and a weedy bot- 
tom, hence altliough he may have a number of strikes 
from large pickerel during the season he rarely brings 
one to the landing-net. 

It is a noticeable fact that large pickerel are geuer- 



ROUND LAKE3. 91 

ally hooked in a very slight manner, often diseugaRiug 
the hooks of their own accord after being caught. They 
are not hooked suHicienlly secun^ to allow of the long 
battle which light tackle necessitates. But the same 
fish, under the same circumstances, if pulled in right 
away before he has had an opportunity to weaken tlie 
hold of the hook, can often be saved; and this is the 
primary reason wliy the pot-fisherman gets the big 
pickerel. lu fact, it is a humiliating point to concede, 
but the fact remains that in order to angle for large 
pickerel witli any success a man must resort to pot- 
fiishing with a big bob and thick line, or else troll with 
a large s])oon. 

Trolling is a kind of middh^ course; between pot-lish- 
ing and scientific angling. It is an invariable appi'en- 
ticeship with which all novices begin their angling 
career, and is the only method by which an inexperi- 
enced fisherman can hope to make a catch. In deep- 
ish water such as is suitable for trolling, a fish takes 
little notice of the boat as it passes over him, and 
the spoon trolling far behind tlu; wake of the boat, 
deep down in the water and within easy striking dis- 
tance, is very alluring; again in trolling the bait is 
working for the angler all the time. 



92 



TAYLOR'S LAKE. 




JOE UTH/II-P^'^ 

TAYlO/^b IAK£ 



ice. f/ouie. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Taylor's lake, a legend of limburger cheese. 

Somebody remarked to me last week that it was a 
pity the carp had never been introduced into the lakes 
of Northern Wisconsin, as they would have effectually 
kept the weeds under. There is no doubt the carp 
would soon destroy the immense weed beds, but this, 
instead of being a blessing, would be an unmitigated 
misfortune to the angler. It is the presence of the 
weeds which give the fishes cover, allowing the smaller 
ones chances to keep out of the way of their ravenous 
and larger relations, and mature. In fact, it is scarcely 
possible to fish out a weedy lake of any respectable 
size. Half the large fishes an angler hooks are rarely 
landed, the weeds and light tackle proving too many 
chances in their favor. Again, at certain times of the 
year, the fishes feed partially on the decayed vegeta- 
tion, and at such times are not nearly so eager for the 
angler's bait. 

Speaking of carp reminds me of Limburger cheese. 
Once I asked a Dutchman the question: "Who discov- 
ered Limburger cheese?" He told me it was ft relic of 
barbarism incidental to that period when mankind 
were so intensely phlegmatic and apathetically dis- 
positioned that it necessitated a joint appeal, to both 
their noses and palates, ei'e their gastromonic faculties 
could positively recognize a good thing when it was 
placed before them. I have since ascertained that 
Limburger cheese was first produced in the following 
manner: 

Away back in those extremely primeval times before 
the Dutch nation first commenced to keep history, 
there lived in an old antiquated castle on the banks 
of the Rhine one Klotz Himmell by name; an individual 

(93) 



94 TAYLOR'S LAKE. 

who owned the best part of the surrounding country, 
kept a host of clamorous fighting retainers, observed 
no laws or religion except those of his own making, 
and passed his time in eating, drinking and carousing 
when he felt good and merry, and in kicking his re- 
tainers when he happened to be morose and mean. 
After many j^ears spent in this manner, old Klotz's 
appetite began to fail him; his palate refused to x'ecog- 
nize the piquant flavor of those former delicacies of 
which he had previously been so fond. Sauerkraut no 
longer, as of yore, tickled his palate with its delicious 
acidity; the huge blood puddings on which he had been 
wont to gorge with unpalled appreciation of their 
lusciousness, became but tasteless matter in his mouth; 
in fact, to briefly summarize, the old chap no longer 
enjoyed his victuals. 

Just about this time things began to get extremely 
unpleasant; for, owing to his fretfulness and irritabil- 
ity, Klotz was a misery to himself, and a holy terror 
to all around him. He was stone deaf, partially blind, 
his sense of smell was all but gone. Things had come 
to such a pass that instead of eating four square meals 
a day in his spacious banqueting hall he scarcely ate 
four meals a month, and then only a little bowl of 
mush and milk in his daughter's private boudoir, sit- 
uated in a tiny turret stuck away up on a remote 
point of the castle. This daughter's name was Mary 
Anne, at least that is the nearest approach to American- 
ism that I can translate from the old manuscript before 
me. 

Now, Mary Anne was an extremely good and pretty 
girl, doting on her old father, and distractedly fond 
of a good-looking young serf, who used occasionally to 
call at the backdoor of the castle to peddle fish and 
bananas; his name was Lym. The maidenly curves 
of pretty little Mary Anne, when she had some three 
months previously appeared at the back door of the 
castle in her morning wrapper with the intention of 
cheapening a big carp, had settled Lym's hash at first 



TAILOR'S LAKE. 95 

sight, although both of them were aware their mutual 
appreciation was hopeless, owing to the fact that so- 
ciety—which was just as severe and hard in those 
primeval times as now— forbade a maid of high degree 
to wed any suitor below the rank of a burgher. 

The old man grew rapidly worse, dozens of physi- 
cians attended him night and day, and one afternoon 
—after a consultation of six hours' duration— they an- 
nounced to the weeping Mary Anne that unless some 
delicacy of marvelous epicurean choiceness could be 
found, with which to tempt the old man's appetite, he 
would certainly starve to death. That evening Mary 
Anne met her lover in the little copse just outside the 
castle gate, and disti-actedly weeping huge, two-carat 
tears upon the bosom of his leather jerkin pictured to 
the sympathetic Lym her poor Pa's sad plight. 

Now Lym was a youth of quick parts, and ingenious 
faculties; so, bidding Mary Anne cheer up, he made her 
promise to meet him at the same spot the next evening. 
Lym went home, and while restlessly tossing on his 
hard pallet that night, his mind tortured by the sorrows 
of his sweet little mistress, his big toe struck against 
something hard at the foot of the bed. Getting up he 
sti'uck a light, and discovered a small parcel lying on 
the floor of his hut, which evidently had been dislodged 
by his toe a few moments before. He picked it up, and 
after unwrapping it found a small piece of cheese, 
which he recognized as the contents of a small pack- 
age he had hooked up when fishing for cai'p in the ad- 
joining lake some five years previously, had tucked it 
into the foot of his bed for safe keeping and then had 
forgotten all about it. Lym took it up carelessly and 
commenced to turn it in his warm hand. The cheese 
began to emit a faint, cheesy odor, which gradually 
increased in strength until Ljm was obliged to open 
the window. The longer Lym handled the cheese the 
stronger it became, until at last, through sheer inability 
to stand its pungent odor any longer, he clapped his 
fingers to his nose and held it tight. Now whether a 

7 



96 TAYLOR'S LAKE. 

morsel of the cheese from Lym's fingers found its way 
into his mouth, or whether the odor was so strong that 
it materialized on his tongue, I am unable to state, but 
certain it is Lym distinctly tasted the flavor of the 
cheese, and found it so marvelously delicious that it 
was a difficult matter to prevent himself from gobbling 
it all up right away. Suddenly an idea struck him: 
Surely, this would be the very thing to recuperate old 
Klotz's worn-out palate. Lym wrapped the cheese in at 
least twenty covers of cloth and delivered it to Mary 
Anne the next night, with directions to open it only 
in the presence of her father. 

That night the old man had been tal^en down into the 
big banqueting hall, to bid his old retainers and hench- 
men good-bye, and 'thither Mary Anne hurried. Push- 
ing everybody on one side she hurried to her father's 
couch, and placing the package on the small table by 
his side, commenced to tear off the wrappings. With 
the removal of each successive layer the retainers 
edged nearer to the doors and windows, while the 
glassy look in old Klotz's eyes gradually gave way to 
one of interest, followed by his presently sitting up and 
snifiing the air with inquisitive curiosity such as he 
had not shown for months past. With the removal of 
the last wrapper the cheese stood discovered, and sim- 
ultaneously with its appoa.iiance an odor so Aveirdly 
unearthly and diabolically pungent arose that it could 
be seen like a pale wreath of blue smoke to circulate 
sloAvly until it filled the room, its fumes becoming so 
overpoAveriug that everybody excepting old Klotz and 
Mary Anne incontinently fled by the nearest exit they 
could find. 

The odor apparently inspired old Klotz with new life, 
for starting up from his couch he -seized the cheese and 
devoured it with an avidity and relish to which he had 
been long a stranger, begged for more, kicked off the 
bed clothes, commenced to dress himself, and assured 
his daughter that the individual who had discovered 
such a marvelously savory compound could have any- 



TAYLOR'S LAKE. 97 

thing he wanted for the asking. Mary Anne, who was 
a sharp-witted girl, immediately beckoned to her lover 
—who ha^ been watching the whole proceedings 
through the ci'ack of the dooi-— and together the young 
couple plumped upon their knees before the old man, 
asking him to ennoble Lym with the title of Burgher 
and allow them to start housekeeping without further 
loss of time. The old man, tweaking Lym's nose twice 
(the usual method of conferring the patent of nobility 
in those days), addressed him as Lym the Burgher, 
thus forever emancipating him from his serfdom and 
raising him to the rank of a Bui'gher. Lym the 
Burgher, as he was now called, started a cheese factory 
as soon as he was comfortably married; the cheese was 
named after him and called Lym-the-Burgher cheese, 
which after many years was shortened into the present 
method of pronouncing it, and called Limburger cheese. 

I should have remained silent on the above history, 
but, as so few persons are aware that Limburger 
cheese owes its origin to a humble fisherman, I felt it 
my duty to the members of the angling fraternity to 
enlighten them. 

Taylor's Lake is located one mile and a half from 
Gray's Lake Depot on the Wisconsin Central Line. 
The fishing is fairly good at times, but never anything 
extra. There is a prevailing opinion that this lake is 
netted, among most of the anglers with whom I have 
spoken; whether this is true, I am unable to positively 
state, but certain it is that the fishing has ceased to be 
anything like it was six or seven years ago. In fact, 
Taylor's Lake has not held its own as the other lakes 
in the vicinity have done. The use of set lines may 
have something to do with it. 

There is excellent bass ground on the shore just east 
of Joe Litwilder's .house. The best pickerel ground 
is just off the shallow, in the northwestern portion of 
the lake, during the warmer months, and outside the 
fringe of bass weeds on the eastern shore during the 



98 TAYI-OR'S LAKE, 

colder inontlis. All along the northern shore is good 
liiiss groiiiKJ, piirticiijjirly ejirlv and late in llie sea- 
son. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

gray's lake, my first and last kxperience in 
ranching. 

Once I became so eiiamorod of a ranchman's life that 
I took up a quarter section of land in Cowlitz County, 
Washington, and commenced to ranch. After getting 
a large log house built and comfortably settled, I 
turned my attention to getting stock. When I state 
that my sole knowledge of farming had been derived 
from a previous Winter's evening deep study of the 
American Farmer, it will be at once understood how 
fitted I was for the occupation I had chosen. 

My first purchase was a hornless cow, a muley they 
called her. I bought her in a small town at eight 
o'clock in the morning, nine miles away from home; 
and, owing to the fact that I was unable to remove 
or silence the cow bell that she wore, I arrived home 
at nine in the evening, after literally dragging and pull- 
ing my unwilling purchase the whole of the way with 
an admiring and curious crowd of about five liundred 
other people's cows following. 

Three cows that happened to be there at the time I 
made my start manifested such an intense interest 
in the probable fate of my newly bought cow that they 
persisted in following her. I stopped and attempted 
to shoo them off, but beyond sliowing an air of mild 
surprise they refused to leave us. About half a mile 
further down the road we came across a herd of about 
a dozen more cows, and these animals— apparently 
quite as a matter of course— waited patiently until I 
had dragged my muley sufficiently far ahead, and then 
placidly dropped in our wake and duly followed on. 
At a turn in the road three young bulls joined our 
party, and within the next two miles the everlasting 

(99) 



100 GRAY'S LAKE, 

tinkle of the cow bell on my new purchase had gathered 
in quite two hundred more cows, of all ages, sexes, 
sizes and colors, that joined the procession. I thought 
I had never seen so many cows together in all my life, 
and grew cold when I cogitated upon the probable 
consequences of the wholesale cow abduction of which 
I was unwittingly guilty. For seven miles the addition 
to our ranlvs steadily increased; apparently, every cow 
for miles around pricked up its ears on hearing the 
penetrating tinkle of that cursed little brass cow bell 
and forsook home, parents and everything else to join 
us. Honestly speaking, I believe there was enough 
beef in our wake to have furnished the whole city of 
Chicago with meat for a week. 

Occasionally my cow would sturdily plant her fore- 
legs together, lower her head and imperatively refuse 
to be pulled an inch farther; at the sanie time emitting 
a plaintive, lowering protest. On hearing this every 
other cow in the procession would stop, too, and bellow 
a commiserating and sympathetic chorus. In fact, the 
scene reminded me of a policemen escoi'ting a juvenile 
offender to the village lockup, followed by a crowd 
of sympathizing friends and relations. 

However, at last I reached home and for the next 
two days was kept busy apologizing to the numerous 
neighboring farmers who came and took their cattle 
away. They all took it good naturedly, however, and 
said that the old man Boulder, of whom I had bought 
the cow, had put up a job on me with the bell. 

Mrs. J— spent the whole of the next two days in' 
learning to milk. At the end of that time she came in 
to me, and sidling up asked me in a confidential man- 
ner if I knew how many teats a cow ought to have. 
This question fairly staggered me, and I frankly owned 
up that I hadn't the least idea. 

"Well," she remarked, "our cow has only got two; 
suppose you go down to the village, and without letting 
anyone see you look at some of the other folks' cattle 
and see how many they have." 



GRAY'S LAKE. 101 

I did SO at once, and returned with the overwhelming 
intelligence that every cow I had seen had, unmistaka- 
bly, four well-developed milking appendages. 

r felt I had been shamefully Imposed upon and 




G^/^rS //!/{£ 



angrily started down to old Boulder's house to inter- 
view him on the subjec t. 

"Waal, waal, ef it h'ain't Mr. Johnson," he said, as he 
opened the door. "Come right in! Come right in and 
sit down! I was just a-telling' Marthy (his wife) to 
put up a bushel of Fall apples and send over to you; 



102 (JUAY'S LAKK. 

we alius like to be kind of peart aud neighborly to new- 
comers." 

"Only two tits," he exclaimed, after I had told my 
grievance, "why, sartin; Jim ripped her bag with a 
pitchfork w^hen he licked her last Summer, and her two 
back tits shriveled up. But that don't matter, anyhow; 
you know when a man goes blind of one eye he kin 
see doubly as well with the one that's left, and it's just 
the same with a cow's tit, all the milk goes to the one 
that's left, and she milks just as much. AVhy, Lor 
bless your soul, Mr. Johnson, I actually consider a one- 
titted cow a most valuable animal, for cows' tits are 
allers a-getting' cracked and sore and whar thars only 
two thar ain't so many to bother her." 

The above is a fair sample of my experience in ranch- 
ing. If I bought a horse it was some worthless old 
animal, possessing every ailment and blemish that it 
could possibly have and yet live. In fact, the whole 
of the community, for miles around, apparently con- 
sidered I had been placed there by a beneficent Provi- 
dence for their especial benefit. I got tired of it, at 
last; and, appreciating the fact that I didn't understand 
the farming business to pursue it profitably, gave every- 
thing away I had because everyone in the county 
hadn't a dollar to buy with, and came back East. 

Gray's Lake is reached by tlie Gray's Lake Depot on 
the Wisconsin Central Line. The lake is located a 
short distance west of the depot. It contains some 
fairly good fishing grounds. The best bait-casting 
water is on the northeastern shore, just where the 
weeds and rushes meet. The trolling ground is on the 
northwestern portion, thence south in the deepish water 
just outside the fringe of bass weeds. 

Gray's Lake has many admirers and I know many 
anglers that have steadily fished it for years who 
prefer it to any of the others, but these form part of a 
clique who habitually A'isit it more from the old asso- 
ciations it embraces than from any points of excellence 
the lake possesses. 



GRAY'S LAKE. 103 

I recollect a party of Chicago fishermen who ouce 
fished it on a wager. They paired off in couples, two 
in each boat, with the understanding that the two who 
lost were to pay for a supper. The rule was, pickerel 
and bass only to count, and nothing under a pound 
weight in bass and three pounds in piclierel. I was 
with one couple during their catch, and noticed that 
each fish caught was weighed immediately on a small 
steel pocket balance they carried, and if deficient a 
few ounces only it was stuffed with a little mud and 
weeds until it would pass muster. 

This discrepency in weight reminded me of Dan'l 
Bruce, an old ante-bellum darky of Missouri. Dan used 
to spend his time fishing for catfish, and one day after 
having imbibed as much "bust-head" as the saloon- 
keeper would trust him with went to the creek and 
caught a thirty-pound catfish the first cast of his line. 
Daniel took out an antiquated steelyard which he al- 
ways carried and weighed it. To Dan's joy it just 
turned the scale at thirty pounds. 

"Lor' bress my soul," he ejaculated, almost turning a 
somersault in his delight; "no more work for dis haar 
nigger for a month." So oveii^owered was he, with the 
joint effects of the liquor he had previously swallowed 
and his big catch, he lay down and went to sleep 
soundly on the grass. 

Another darky who had been fishing, unobserved by 
Daniel, in a small reed brake about two hundred yards 
up the stream, had watched Dan make his catch and 
had seen him weigh it. This darky also had caught a 
small catfish weighing just a pound. He patiently 
waited till Dan was fast in dreamland, and then quietly 
sneaking up substituted his own fish for the large one 
lying on the grass beside the slumbering Daniel and 
made off. 

After a while Daniel awoke, and gazing around the 
first object that met his eyes was the insignificant little 
catfish his neighbor had left. He arose to his feet 
slowly, with his eyes bulging out like saucers, and 



104 GRAY'S LAKE. 

taking the fish in his hand he gazed at it long and fear- 
fully, muttering to himself: 

"For de Lawd's salje! fore de Lawds, dat shore am a 
cat! But Lawd a massy how he am shrunk; shorely, 
when I weighed dat ar cat afore, dar mus' hab ben 
one poun' ob fish an' twenty-nine poun's ob whisky." 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHANNEL LAKE. LAKE CATHERINE. LOON LAKE. 

LOCATING STRANGE WAJ-ERS. HOW AND 

WHEN TO STRIKE A FISH. 

Channel Lake and Lake Catherine are located di- 
rectly north of Lake Marie, with which they communi- 
cate by a channel, and are also connected by another 
waterway. They are reached by the Antioch Depot 
on the Wisconsin Central Line. The distance from 
Chicago is a trifle over fifty-five miles. In both of 
these lakes excellent bass and pickerel fishing is to 
be had, though the really good fishing ground in 
Channel Lake is somewhat limited, the east shore be- 
ing the best fishing water. In Lake Catherine the 
best bass ground is at the southern point, and for 
both bass and pickerel on either side of the channel on 
the west side of the lake. There is also some wall- 
eyed pike ground in deeper water at the south end, 
as shown on the map. So many anglers have asked 
me the quickest method of locating the best fishing 
grounds in strange waters, that I think it would be a 
good idea to give a general description of a typical 
piece of water, naming those general divisions and 
bottom formations which are to be found in all lakes. 
With few exceptions all lakes possess the following 
features: 

First, a nish line extending from the shore line some 
distance within the lake, dotted here and there with 
lilypads at some points close within shore. Secondly, 
bass and pickerel weeds, just outside the rush line aijd 
adjoining it; and thirdly, the deeper water which lies 
immediately beyond the bass and pickerel weeds. This 
deeper water usually marks the termination of what- 
(105) 



106 CHANNEL LAKE. 

ever bam there may be in the lake. Fourthly, the 
main body of the lake and deepest portions of all. 

Bass and pickerel alternate between the deepish 
water adjoining the main body and the lilypads on 
the margin, according to the variations of the weather, 
or, in other words, according to the existing condi- 
tions of heat and cold. The colder the weather, the 
deeper the water the fighes will seek in which to lie, 
and as the temperature wai-ms the fishes seek the 
shallow portions of a lake. On an extremely hot 
day bass will crowd into the shallow, muddy bot- 
toms at the roots of the lilypads and refuse all bait. 
On such occasions, if a bait is cast near them it will 
cause them to vacate the spot in a manner which 
shows them to be scared. They are not in a feeding 
humor and are easily frightened by any disturbance 
in their vicinity; but, as soon as the heat of the day 
is over and evening draws near, the bass forsake the 
lilypads for the feeding grounds adjoining. On chilly 
days the bass lie in the rush patches, bass weeds and 
deepish water adjoining. While lying in such places 
they may be enticed often with a bait, and will seize 
it provided too much exertion is not required to do 
so, even when not in a feeding humor. From these sit- 
uations, as evening approaches and the wind goes 
down, they seek the nearest shallow frequented by 
small fry and there feed. 

With all predatory fishes the two principal requisites 
are a lay-by or resting place and a feeding ground. In a 
lake these two places are close together, because 
fishes that inhabit bodies of still water are local in 
their habits and do not roam from one point to another 
any very great distance, as do those who inhabit run- 
ning water. 

The minnows and small fry upon which bass and 
pickerel feed are to be found in greater numbers in 
those shallow portions of the water between the out- 
side shore line and the bass weeds immediately ad- 
joining the rush line, and this portion of the lake is 



CHANNEL LAKE. 107 

the general feeding ground for whatever perch and 
pickerel it may contain; while the bass weeds and 
deepish water immediately adjoining or the rush and 
lilypads on the margin is their lay-by or resting place, 
according to the existing climatic influences. 

The best way to fish a strange lake is to make di- 
rectly for the nearest sparsely dotted patch of rushes 




lAH^ Catherine 



Cm/^f^£llAKE 



and examine the bottom; if it shows a depth of water 
from two to five feet, and a good, thick undergrowth 
of weeds sufficiently high to allow a bass to sink into 
it and be covered, the angler may go to work on such 
ground with confidence. Bass have a particular af- 
fection for this kind of gx*ound, and even under the 
most adverse circumstances of wind or weather ground 
of this description generally will yield something to 
persistent fishing. 



108 CHANNEL LAKE. 

Knowing when and how to strike a fish is an im- 
portant factor in angling. A pickerel seizes a bait 
crosswise and hardly ever shifts it from that posi- 
tion in his moutJi until he has reached a spot in which 
to devour it. The fisherman will feel the strike when 
a pickerel seizes his bait. This will be followed by 
a short or long run, according to the size of the fish 
and the distance his inclination may lead him to travel 
before stopping to swallow it. Never strike a fish on 
its first run unless there is some special reason for do- 
ing so, nor allow him to feel the slightest check when 
running off with the bait; but when the fish, after 
resting, again goes off, tighten the line, and imme- 
diately the tension shows a direct communication with 
the fish without any intervening slack the rod should 
be thrown smartly back with sufficient force to drive 
the hooks home. Always wait until a fish is going 
away from you before striking; never attempt it when 
he is coming toward you. You may hook him in this 
position, but in nine cases out of ten it will be done so 
insecurely that he will tear away. 

A bass seizes a minnow by the head and a frog by 
the legs, and when in a feeding humor swallows the 
bait as he moves away; he does not wait to find some 
suitable place in which to swallow his prey like the 
pickerel does, but feeds a» he swims. But a bass, 
when not over hungi-y, will often seize a bait and 
hold it in his mouth for a considerable length of time 
and then reject it. This can be obviated, to a certain 
extent, by using two hooks, one in the head of the 
bait and the other in the tail, and striking directly 
the bass seizes the bait. With this exception, always 
give a bass a little time and allow him to go off with 
the bait some trifling distance before striking. 

An experienced fisherman can genei-ally form a fairly 
correct idea of the kind of fish which strikes at his 
bait. If in shallow water it is necessarily drawn near 
the surface, and the rise of the fish is sufficiently vis- 
ible to enable a pretty correct guess to be made, and 



CHANNEL LAKE. 



109 







110 CHANNEL LAKE. 

iu deepish water where the I'ise and strike of the fish 
are not visible on the surface, the sharp, business-like 
double snap of a large bass is easily distinguished 
from that of the steady, sweeping clutch which at- 
tends the bile of a large pickerel. It is not so easy 
to distinguisli between the bites of the smaller bass 
and pickerel; they both seize the bait with a sharp, 
worrying movement similar to tliat of a large perch. 

The bait-caster really requires two kinds of casting 
rods, one for weedy waters and another for those 
waters which contain but few weeds. A six-foot six- 
inch casting rod, not exceeding seven ounces in weight, 
is an excellent all-round tool for river fishing and in 
those lakes where heavy surface vegetation is not en- 
countered. But such a rod, if used in many of the 
lakes described in these articles, would soon come 
to grief; iu fact, a stiff er and slightly heavier rod, with 
plenty of backbone, is an absolute necessity, because 
the angler to get fish must fish not only in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the weed beds but often in the weed 
beds themselves. I am' aware there are many really 
good fisherman who decry this style of fishing, iu 
fact, I am sure if everyone had their choice they 
would much prefer to fish in open water. But if the 
fishes are in the weeds and rushes what can you do? 
You have either got to go for them in the weeds or 
catch nothing. 

Ijoou Lake is reached from Ijoou Lake Depot. There 
is gootl bass fisliing all around the eastern portion, 
particularly during lihe latter end of the season, when 
the fishes will be found to frequent the outer fringe 
of bass weeds more than the rushes inshore. The 
deepish water, all around the western shore, is good 
fishing water at all times. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FOX LAKK. PKTITE LAKE. OHSERVATIONS ON SKI'l'- 
TKRING AND BAIT-CASTING. 

Fox liftke is reached from the Lake ViUa Depot on 
the Wisconsin Central Line. It is fifty miles from 
Chicago, and altliough plentifully stocked with pickerel 
and bass is the most difficult lake of any in which to 
make a good catch. There are a few old-time fishermen 
who occasionally make good catches by skittering and 
trolling, but for the average bait-caster who possesses 
no special knowledge of the ground the outlook for a 
good catch is not very encouraging. If a man is con- 
tent to engage a boat and the services of one of the 
several experienced guides who live in the neighbor- 
hood, to row him cautiously within reach of the best 
pieces of water, and will skitter a minnow or a spoon 
with a long bamboo pole, yanking the fish into the boat 
without play or sport, such an individual— providing he 
strikes a favorable time— can often make a big catch. 

The lake teems with natural food of every descrip- 
tion, and this is probably one of the cliief reasons the 
fish do not feed readily. Although the lake contains 
some magnificent bass and pickerel ground, as far as 
appearances go, little of it is worth fishing. The space 
of really good fislilng water, for such a large area as 
that which Fox Lake contains, is extremely small. 

Starting from the Eastside Hotel, the best thing to 
do is to row directly to tlie spot marked H on the chart. 
The best bass ground in the whole lake is that em- 
braced within the triangle formed by the letters P, 
D and H, directly facing the Eastside Hotel. The 
bottom of this portion of the lake is all that could be de- 
sired, rush patches with bass weed and a heavy ground 

growth of silk weed. This piece of water contains sev- 
8 (111) 



112 FOX LAKE-I'ETITE LAKE. 

eral fine, deep pockets. There is enougb good water in 
this space to occupy a bait-caster a half day if he 
fishes it as it should be fished. With a trifling breeze 
he can drift over the ground and fish it thoroughly, the 
rushes being just thick enough to delay the drift of the 
boat sufficiently to allow thorough combing of the 
ground. 

Proceeding north from the point marked P on the 
map, an open space free from rushes and weeds is 
crossed until the rushes are again reached at the point 
marked M. This is flue perch ground, and when the 
fishes are feeding a man can easily catch a hundred of 
these gamy little fellows in a very short space of time. 
They run in schools of about a couple of dozen to fifty, 
and providing the angler is careful and draws his fishes 
in as quickly and quietly as possible, he can catch half 
the school before the rest take the alarm and go off. 

The next point worth visiting is the rush bed at A, 
in the northwest bay. There is good pickerel water 
here, and large fishes are frequently taken just out- 
side the fringe of ruslies running north and south. 
From the point marked A to the channel at B is good 
trolling ground, following the shore around about two 
hundred yards out. A man who likes still fishing can 
probably do as well among the bass if he should anchor 
out in the deepish water about two hundred yards, 
directly opposite the Howard House. On the west 
side of the island lies good bass and pickerel ground. 
From the island, coming south, the next point of ex- 
cellence is the spot marked Z. This is fairly good bass 
water, but the fishes appear to run small. There is 
good pickerel water at the point marked O, and fairly 
good bass ground at the point marked K, in the bay 
east of the Eastside Hotel. 

The fishing in all tliese grounds is very erratic. Some 
days the best pieces of water, or those tliat are gen- 
erally considered the best, will prove a blank, and other 
portions which are considered poor fishing will reward 
the angler with a big catch of fish. The best thing the 



FOX LAKE— PETITE LAKE. 



113 







h 




114 FOX LAKB-PETITE LAKE, 

fisherman can do is to try all tlie groinuls in turn, or at 
least as many as his time will permit. Sticking to a 
piece of water in the face of non-success, just because 
at some previous time a good catch of fish was taken 
there, is only a waste of time. If you don't find the 
fishes willing to take your bait in one supposed good 
fishing spot, move around to the next and keep on 
moving until you find a piece of water where they ax-e 
feeding. In any large body of water like that con- 
tained in most of the lakes I have described, there is 
generally some particular portion more favored than 
the rest and in which a few fishes will be found to 
respond to the angler's attentive persistence. 

One day this Summer, while casting on Fox Lake, I 
came across a boat in which were two persons. One 
was a gentleman whom I recognized as a well-known 
Chicago business man; the other was an old boatman 
who has fished tlie lakes for many years. The gentle- 
man was skittering Avith a minnow, the boatman row- 
ing, and although I have my own private opinion re- 
garding skittering, yet, after watching the method pur- 
sued, it was impossible to avoid admiring the artistic 
manner and the amount of positive science displayed 
by the boatnum when placing his patron within reach 
of the weed bed they were skirting. The sculls were 
moved with scarcely a perceptible motion,, most of the 
rowing being done from that side farthest from the 
weed bed. Kacii time the angler would cast his bait 
among tlie weeds and rushes, the sculls were suffered 
to remain perfectly stationary during the whole of the 
time the bait was in the water; and what progress was 
made in shifting the ground was done between the 
casts, yet so delicately and skillfully that, with the 
slightest ripple to assist the boatman, it was possible 
to fish within ten yards of the boat without scaring 
away the fish. 

I recogniz'^d at once how it was possible to make the 
big catches of fish which are so often taken by skitter- 
ing. The bait was working almost all the time. Each 



FOX LAKE— PETITE LAKE. 



115 



spot of water could be thoroughly searched, and what 
was more important still there was no necessity to 
hurry the bait througli the water. I can quite under- 
stand a man who has fished in this manner for any 
length of time being unwilling to give up the skittering 
style of fishing and take up with the practice of bait- 
casting. 

The art of bait-casting is becoming better known and 
appreciated every year. Eight years ago the number of 




bait-casters that could be seen on the lakes were few, 
but now one cannot help noticing that the bait-casters 
form a large majority of those who leave each Satur- 
day on the Wisconsin Central for the lakes of Northern 
Illinois. There are two things required in catching fish. 
First, to know where to look for them, and then to 
place the bait before the fishes without letting them sus- 
pect that you are at the other end of the line; and there 
Is no method which accomplishes the latter so well as 
the bait-casting rod. 



116 FOX LAKE— PETITE LAKE. 

Petite Lake is reached from tlie Antiocli Depot on 
the Wisconsin Central. The rush line is comparatively- 
scant. The best bass ground is found around the 
rush and flag patch in the point marked on the chart. 
The best pickerel ground is just outside the weeds, on 
the shallow portion, on the western shore. For even- 
ing fishing with frogs the lilypads in the northeastern 
point is the best ground of any. Petite Lake is fairly 
good fishing water, and during the season has its fair 
share of angling visitors. There are plenty of good 
boats to be had, and experienced boatmen who know 
the water thoroughly will accompany the fisherman at 
a reasonable charge. 




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